Seize, sell Tata Power’s shares in arms: Court
Kleros says Singapore court has ordered authorities to take action in $650Mn awardMUMBAI: Tata Power’s legal battle with Kleros Capital Partners, a British Virgin Islands-incorporated resource and infrastructure investment firm, has taken a significant turn after a Singapore court authorised the seizure and sale of shares held by the Tata Group utility in two of its Singapore-based subsidiaries to recover dues arising from a long-running arbitration dispute.In an announcement on Thursday, Kleros said the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) has granted enforcement orders empowering the Sheriff of the Singapore courts to seize and sell Tata Power’s shareholdings in Bhira Investments and Tata Power International.The move follows the SICC’s decision in Aug to dismiss all challenges filed by Tata Power against arbitration awards issued in favour of Kleros.The enforcement action stems from a dispute over the Krutogorovo coal deposit in Russia’s Kamchatka region. Kleros and Tata Power had entered into agreements in 2013 and 2014 to explore a joint development of the deposit. However, Kleros later alleged that Tata Power used confidential information obtained under those agreements to pursue the Krutogorovo coal deposit independently.The investment firm initiated arbitration proceedings in Singapore in Nov 2020. In Sept 2023, a three-member tribunal, constituted under the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), unanimously ruled that Tata Power had breached contractual obligations by misusing confidential information, circumventing Kleros and concealing material facts while pursuing the coal project on its own.In July 2025, the tribunal awarded Kleros damages of $490 million. Including interest and costs, the total amount now claimed by Kleros exceeds $650 million. According to Kleros, interest continues to accrue at about $71,600 per day.While Tata Power has appealed the SICC’s Aug ruling before the Singapore Court of Appeal and the matter remains pending, Kleros said the appeal does not automatically suspend enforcement proceedings and that the company “has not sought a stay of enforcement”. As a result, the arbitration awards remain “final, binding and immediately enforceable” under Singapore law.Earlier, the SICC dismissed Tata Power’s challenges to the July 2025 SIAC arbitral awards, including its objections to the appointment of two arbitrators who participated in the majority decision forming the basis of the final award. SICC held that there had been no breach of natural justice or the fair hearing rule in the tribunal’s conduct.At Tata Power’s annual general meeting in July this year, chairman N Chandrasekaran, responding to a shareholder query on the Kleros matter, said the arbitration case remained under appeal and declined to comment further.The two Singapore entities targeted by the enforcement order are as follows: Bhira Investments holds Tata Power’s Indonesian coal mining interests, including a 30% stake in PT Kaltim Prima Coal, while Tata Power International serves as the utility’s overseas investment holding vehicle.The latest enforcement order, however, raises the stakes in what has become one of the largest arbitration-related claims faced by an Indian corporate entity.
