Can the enforcement of arbitral awards be assigned to a third party? Kamran Rehman & Harriet Campbell report
- Assignment of substantial awards, particularly in investor-state disputes, is increasingly common and there is a growing secondary market in funding enforcement actions.
- In Operafund Eco-Invest SICAV plc & Anor v Spain, however, the Commercial Court held that ICSID awards are not capable of assignment.
Getting an arbitral award in your favour—especially against a sovereign state—is an immense achievement. It is, however, often only half the battle and far from winning the war.
Enforcing arbitral awards can take up significant time and expense. For that reason, assigning the award to a third party to pursue, for say a lump sum or percentage of recoveries, may seem a sensible strategy. Unfortunately for parties contemplating this course, the English Commercial Court ruled last month in Operafund Eco-Invest SICAV plc and another company v The Kingdom of Spain [2025] EWHC 2874 (Comm) that awards made pursuant to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention or under the Energy
