Chaffetz Lindsey Secures Resounding Victory for AES in Investment Arbitration Against Argentina

August 2025 – New York, NY – In a landmark decision in favor of The AES Corporation (AES), an international tribunal has awarded the company over US$730 million in an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Argentina. In its May 30, 2025 award (recently made public), the Tribunal unanimously held the Republic of Argentina liable under the Argentine–U.S. Bilateral Investment Treaty for unlawful and arbitrary interference with AES’s investments in eight power generation facilities. For the Chaffetz Lindsey team, this a significant victory for a longstanding client.

The Tribunal found that Argentina’s measures—including dismantling the electricity sector’s remuneration system, withholding owed receivables, and coercing AES’s subsidiaries to reinvest those receivables in new infrastructure—arbitrarily altered the essential characteristics of the electricity generation framework. These actions constituted violations of Argentina’s treaty obligations. The Tribunal also rejected all of Argentina’s jurisdictional and admissibility objections. As of the date of AES’s petition to confirm the award, Argentina owed US$821,070,619.71, including damages (to date), interest, and arbitration costs, making it the largest award rendered in any of the more than 60 ICSID arbitrations brought against Argentina following the 2001–2002 economic crisis.

“This case is deeply meaningful to our firm,” said James Hosking, Chaffetz Lindsey founding partner and head of the international arbitration practice. “AES entrusted us with this dispute from the moment we launched the firm in 2009. After helping the client navigate a decade-long suspension in which Argentina had promised to implement sector reforms, we were proud to resume the arbitration in 2018 and to deliver this result alongside our good friends at Freshfields and Bruchou.”

The Spanish-English bilingual merits hearing took place in 2023. The Chaffetz Lindsey team was led by partners James Hosking, Aníbal Sabater, and Caline Mouawad, with support from Matilde Flores, May Khoury, Silvia Marroquín, and Agustina Alfaro. Partner Andreas Frischknecht is now leading, as co-counsel with Freshfields, an action to enforce the award in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Success in the AES case comes on the heels of a series of other recent investment arbitration wins for the firm, including in the case of APM Terminals Callao S.A. v. Republic of Peru and Clorox Spain S.L v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

The final award is available in full on the ICSID website.

The tribunal’s decision has garnered considerable global coverage. To access these articles, please click on the links provided below:

• Otro juicio contra Argentina: una eléctrica va la Justicia de EE.UU. para poder cobrar un fallo internacional a su favor por US$ 800 millones (Clarin)
• Analysis: AES v. Argentina tribunal finds that electricity sector changes were arbitrary, dismissing treaty-based and customary international law defences; compound interest is rejected due to domestic law bar (IA Reporter)
• AES takes Argentine electricity award to US (GAR)
• U.S. Power Co. Seeks OK Of $824M Argentina Award (Law 360)
• AES takes Argentine electricity award to US (Latin Lawyer)