French court orders freezing of Indian property on Devas' plea

A French court has granted a petition by shareholders of satellite maker Devas Multimedia who are claiming their rights to a Paris apartment housing the deputy head of the Indian mission in a bid to force a $1.3 billion arbitration award in a battle. decade-long lawsuit over scrapped satellite deal. The court granted the lien, a legal claim on the assets to cover the debt, on Sept. 25, 2021, according to a copy of the court order reviewed by ET. Divas said in a statement Thursday that the luxury apartment in Paris's 16th arrondissement has an estimated value of 3.8 million euros. "India has assets like this all over the world. This is just the beginning. We are planning more expropriations," said Jay Neumann, senior adviser at Devas Shareholders, a group that includes US investment firms Columbia Capital and Telecom Ventures, as well as Deutsche Telekom. Government sources declined to comment on the events. Bangalore-based Divas has won multiple arbitration decisions over the canceled satellite deal with Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Agency dating back to 2011. This includes a $1.3 billion order (including interest and fees) in the ICC Court of Arbitration in 2015. The French court order revealed that three CC/Devas Mauritius investors, Telcom Devas Mauritius and Devas Employees Mauritius Pvt Ltd were seeking to obtain confiscation from the Indian government. assets to enforce the contested arbitration award. In 2021, Divas' foreign shareholders turned to courts in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere, accusing India of failing to comply with arbitration awards and attempting to seize the country's assets abroad. They also hired Newman, a former CEO of Elliott Management, to help collect arbitration awards. Earlier this month, a Canadian court authorized the seizure of assets belonging to the Airports Authority of India and Air India held by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in the province of Quebec and internationally. Also Read - Actis looks to buy Welspun’s road assets for up to ₹10,000 crore