Tanzania Power Firm Asked to Pay Standard Chartered $148 Million

DAR ES SALAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ordered the Tanzania Electric Supply Co. to pay Standard Chartered Plc $148.4 million after breaching a power contract, the arbitrator said.

The case that began in 2001 concerns a purchase agreement in May 1995 between Tanesco and Independent Power Tanzania Ltd., whose rights were later taken over by Standard Chartered in 2014.

The agreement required IPTL to supply Tanesco with 100 megawatts before the company was placed under the custody of a liquidator in December 2008 following ownership disputes between shareholders Mechmar Corp. and VIP Engineering and Marketing Ltd.

Tanesco maintained it paid IPTL for power, while Standard Chartered argued that it should have been paid.

Tanesco is required to pay Standard Chartered interest at three-month London interbank offered rate plus 4 percent from Sept. 30, 2015 until the date of the award, the Washington-based arbitrator said in a ruling on its website. Calls to Tanesco Managing Director Esau Mwinuka’s mobile phone weren’t answered.

Source: Bloomberg Business News