Brookfield, The company that owns the concessionaire Lima routesannounced that its General Shareholders Meeting approved on September 29 the beginning of a process of dissolution and liquidation of the company. The decision was qualified as “unfortunate” and a direct consequence of what the company describes as a “series of arbitrary and abusive measures, as well as a sustained harassment” by various entities of the Peruvian state, Lima’s silence, Rafael López Aliaga and other authorities.
The dissolution action occurs after the loss of value of the company was such a magnitude that its assets became negative, forcing the Board to apply the General Societies Law.
The company owned that they constantly received a large number of processes of habeas corpus, requests for precautionary measures and criminal actions promoted by authorities, together with a “continuous campaign of harassment and defamation” promoted by the mayor of Lima and other authorities.
Ben Vaughan, director of Global Operations at Brookfield Infrastructure Group, issued a hard statement about the message that Peru would be sending to the international community. “The dissolution of Lima Routes is a direct consequence of the actions of the Peruvian State, which have destroyed the value of our asset without any consideration for legal certainty, demonstrating that this does not respect its commitments and does not know the applicable standards. Peru ensures that it seeks to attract foreign investment, but the treatment it has granted to Brookfield sends the opposite message,” he said.
Given these behaviors, Brookfield confirmed that he has initiated an international arbitration against the Peruvian state covered in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Peru and Canada, reserving all their rights for continuous violations and the destruction of their investment.
Shares against Lima Routes
Brookfield cited a list of actions that, according to its version, have destroyed the financial viability of Lima routes and constitute an “undue expropriation” of its investment. The most critical measures are, for example, the suspension of toll collection. They explained that the sentences of the Constitutional Court (TC) and judicial resolutions that suspended the collection in the Chillón and Conchan toll units, led the company to lose more than 60% of its income.
In addition, the Peruvian State would have rejected international arbitral awards, confirmed by the Federal Justice of the United States, for a value greater than the S/700 million. On the other hand, they also mentioned an “undue shot of the Ramiro Prialé section”, so the company was prevented from building and operating this section, despite having invested more than S/500 million.
Recommended video
