By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 2 July 2015:
The English High Court made . . .[restrict]an order today appointing a Receiver to protect and pursue the interests of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) in its ongoing litigations against Goldman Sachs and Société Générale in the Chancery Division and the Commercial Court, London.
That Order was made at the request of lawyers instructed by Hassan Bouhadi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the LIA.
By taking this action, the Board of Directors sought to ensure the safest legal measure available to the LIA under English law to protect the LIA’s interests in the litigations, ensure they can move forward and that they are conducted efficiently.
The litigations had previously been managed by a committee that was not subject to the institutional governance arrangements of the LIA.
The Board of Directors became increasingly concerned that the conduct of members of the committee and the absence of adequate oversight affected the ability of this committee to perform its delegated duties in the best interests of the LIA and the Libyan people. The committee was dissolved.
The Board of Directors wanted to bring the litigations under the temporary management of an appropriately-qualified person who would focus solely on protecting the interests of the Libyan people and would be answerable to the High Court for doing so.
The court has approved the Board of Directors’ nominees, Mark Shaw and Shane Crooks of BDO, to act as the Receiver. Included in the powers which now vest in the Receiver, is the authority to retain Enyo Law as the legal counsel to the Receiver or to appoint another legal team with the Court’s approval.
Under English law a ‘Receiver’ is an independent ‘Trustee’ who will move the nominated litigation forward. He will undertake this role only for the litigations in the Chancery Division of the High Court and the Commercial Court, London.
The Board of Directors and the investment management team of the LIA will continue the management of all other assets and investments of the LIA. The value of these assets, independently verified by Deloitte in 2012/13, is US$ 67 billion.
Hassan Bouhadi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the LIA, said of the approved application: “It is vital that these litigations continue in order to protect the assets of the Libyan people, which is why I made this application to the court’’.
‘’Through the Libyan Investment Authority’s strict governance structure, we are accountable to the Libyan people to make decisions to serve the best interests of their sovereign wealth fund. This procedure serves to do exactly that’’.
Bouhadi, who has been accompanying Libya’s Prime Minister Abdullah Thinni’s, Libya’s only internationally recognized Prime Minister, during an official visit to Malta, added: “We must now let the Receiver undertake his role unhindered while we continue our work to protect, stabilise and, where possible, grow the other assets and investments that make up the vast majority of the portfolio of the LIA.” [/restrict]
