Ecopetrol S.A. v. Offshore Exploration & Production LLC

46 F. Supp. 3d 327, 2014 WL 4449799
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 10, 2014
DocketNo. 14 Civ. 529(JGK)
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 46 F. Supp. 3d 327 (Ecopetrol S.A. v. Offshore Exploration & Production LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ecopetrol S.A. v. Offshore Exploration & Production LLC, 46 F. Supp. 3d 327, 2014 WL 4449799 (S.D.N.Y. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JOHN G. KOELTL, District Judge:

The pending petitions in this case arise out of a Stock Purchase Agreement governing the sale of certain entities by Respondent Offshore Exploration and Production, LLC (“Offshore”), to Petitioners, Ecopetrol S.A. (“Ecopetrol”) and Korea National Oil Corporation (“KNOC”). The Stock Purchase Agreement requires that Offshore hold Ecopetrol and KNOC (together, the “Purchasers”) harmless against various taxes assessed against the entities that the Purchasers acquired. The Stock Purchase Agreement also requires that Offshore pay any taxes that the acquired entities contest prior to or upon the commencement of any contest proceedings, and that the parties arbitrate disputes arising out of or related to the Stock Purchase Agreement.

After Offshore objected to indemnification claims for over $75 million in tax liabilities assessed against an entity that the Purchasers acquired pursuant to the Stock Purchase Agreement, the parties arbitrated Offshore’s liability under the Stock Purchase Agreement. On April 15, 2013, the arbitral panel issued an Interim Award requiring that Offshore reimburse the Purchasers for the full amount of those indemnification claims. Offshore attempted to satisfy the Interim Award with funds placed in escrow pursuant to the Stock Purchase Agreement; however, the Purchasers objected and sought a supplemental award declaring that Offshore’s attempt to satisfy the Interim Award with escrowed funds was ineffective. On December 3, 2013, the arbitral panel issued a Supplemental Interim Award concluding that Offshore was not permitted to satisfy the Interim Award with escrowed funds.

The Purchasers now seek to confirm the Interim Award and the Supplemental Interim Award, and to have the awards entered as a judgment of this Court under the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “Convention”), and the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C. § 207. Offshore opposes confirmation of both arbitral awards, and also petitions to vacate the Supplemental Interim Award.

This Court has jurisdiction under the Convention, 9 U.S.C. § 203, and under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 based on diversity of citizenship. For the reasons explained below, the Purchasers’ petition to confirm the Interim Award and Supplemental Interim Award is granted, and Offshore’s cross-petition to vacate the Supplemental Interim Award is denied.

I.

The Court assumes the parties’ familiarity with the factual background and procedural history set forth in connection with the parties’ previous cross-motions for declaratory judgment and for a stay pending arbitration in Offshore Exploration & Prod. LLC v. Morgan Stanley Private Bank, N.A., 986 F.Supp.2d 308 (S.D.N.Y. 2013) (“Offshore I”). The following facts are accepted as true for purposes of the pending motions.

[332]*332A.

On December 29, 2008, Offshore entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement with the Purchasers. Pursuant to the Stock Purchase Agreement, Offshore sold to the Purchasers all of the issued and outstanding common stock of its subsidiary, Offshore International Group, Inc., and each of Offshore International Group’s subsidiaries. Under the Stock Purchase Agreement, Offshore must “indemnify and defend the Purchaser Indem-nitees and hold the Purchaser Indemni-tees harmless from and against” various taxes that the subsidiaries might owe. (Stock Purchase Agreement (“SPA”) § 7.4(a).) The Stock Purchase Agreement also states that if contested taxes “must be paid under applicable Law prior to or upon commencement of a contest proceeding, [Offshore] shall pay such Taxes to the applicable Governmental Authority prior to or upon commencement of such proceeding.” (SPA § 7.4(d).)

In order to secure the Purchasers’ potential indemnification claims under the Stock Purchase Agreement, the Purchasers delivered $150 million of their $1.2 billion purchase price to an escrow agent: Morgan Stanley Trust, N.A.1 (“Morgan Stanley”). (First Amendment to the SPA § 2.3(b)(i).)2 The Purchasers may apply the escrowed funds to various indemnification claims arising under the Stock Purchase Agreement and funds are to be disbursed “in accordance” with the terms of the Escrow Agreement to which Offshore, the Purchasers, and Morgan Stanley were parties. (First Amendment to the SPA § 2.3(b)(i).) The Stock Purchase Agreement requires that the escrow period be extended and that an adequate amount in escrow be retained to cover any indemnification claim timely asserted. (First Amendment to the SPA § 2.3(b)(i).)

Additional rights and procedures regarding disbursement from the escrow are enumerated in Section 8.6 of the Stock Purchase Agreement. That section provides that “[b]y written notice to Seller specifying in reasonable detail the basis for set-off, Purchaser may assert a claim to set off any amount to which it is or[,] if Seller has objected[,] has been determined to be[,] entitled under Article 7 and ... Article 8 against the Escrow Amount.” (SPA § 8.6.) Section 8 also provides that “[n]either the exercise of nor the failure to exercise such right of set-off will constitute an election of remedies or limit Purchaser in any manner in the enforcement of any other remedies that may be available to it.” (SPA § 8.6.)

In the event that any party breaches its obligations under the Stock Purchase Agreement, the Agreement provides to the non-breaching party “the right to seek specific performance of this Agreement without the necessity of proving the inadequacy of money damages as a remedy.” (SPA § 8.4.) Additionally, the Stock Purchase Agreement contains a broad, mandatory arbitration clause providing that:

Any dispute, controversy or Action arising out of or relating to this Agreement, or the breach thereof ... shall be determined by arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association in accordance with its International Arbitration Rules.

(SPA § 10.7(a).) The Stock Purchase Agreement also provided for the enforce[333]*333ment of provisional remedies granted by the arbitrators:

[T]he arbitrators shall have the power to grant any provisional measures that they deem appropriate including but not limited to provisional injunctive relief, and any provisional measures ordered by the arbitrators may, to the extent permitted by applicable law, be deemed to be a final award on the subject matter of the measures and shall be enforceable as such.

(SPA § 10.7(b).)

B.

Offshore and the Purchasers signed the First Amendment to the Stock Purchase Agreement as of February 5, 2009. (First Amendment to the SPA.) Offshore, the Purchasers, and Morgan Stanley also executed the Escrow Agreement as of February 5, 2009. The Escrow Agreement provides procedures for the disbursement of funds held in escrow (the “Escrow Amount”). Disbursement must occur if any Purchaser submits a Purchaser’s Indemnity Certificate and Offshore does not object within thirty days. (Escrow Agreement § 3.) However, if Offshore disputes a claim made against the Escrow Amount, Morgan Stanley is prohibited from disbursing funds:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
46 F. Supp. 3d 327, 2014 WL 4449799, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ecopetrol-sa-v-offshore-exploration-production-llc-nysd-2014.