(Aug 26): Tata Power Co, one of India’s largest non-state power producers, lost a challenge to a US$490 million (RM1.97 billion) arbitration award for violating an agreement with an investor to bid for a coal asset in Russia and denying it the opportunity to benefit.

The Singapore International Commercial Court rejected the Indian company’s challenge to the quantum of the damages awarded to Kleros Capital Partners, as well as its claim that the majority order was a breach of natural justice, according to a copy of the order delivered Wednesday.

A Tata Power spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.  

The origin of the case dates back to 2013, when Kleros approached Tata Power with a proposal to jointly bid for a Russian coal deposit it estimated to contain reserves worth US$1.1 billion. The two companies entered into a non-disclosure agreement effective through four years starting September 2013.

However, in 2015, the relationship began to sour, with disagreements over who would lead the bid as well as the ownership structure of the proposed project, the court document said. The relationship ended the next year.

As a result, Kleros didn’t bid for the mine in federal auctions in Russia in December 2017 and wound down its operations in the country. Tata Power submitted a bid in the auction through a Russian unit and won the mining licence when the non-disclosure pact with Kleros expired. It later surrendered the licence after finding the project unviable. 

Kleros dragged Tata Power into arbitration, arguing that the Indian firm “had breached the NDAs by misusing the confidential information disclosed thereunder and by acting in bad faith in excluding Kleros from the project”.

The court agreed with Kleros and rejected Tata Power’s challenge on all counts, keeping the arbitral award unchanged and imposing costs on the company, the amount of which currently remains undecided.

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