2.3.In de periode januari/februari 2017 heeft er tussen partijen in de arbitrage een ICC ‘Emergency Arbitration’-procedure plaatsgevonden. In die procedure, waarin de tweede tranche van de hiervoor bedoelde aandelentransacties centraal stond, trad COFCO op als ‘Applicant’ en Cygne als ‘Respondent’ en tevens als ‘Counter Applicant’. In die procedure heeft de ‘Emergency Arbitrator’ op 14 februari 2017 een ‘Order’ afgegeven. Voor zover hier van belang is daarin het volgende overwogen:
“(…)
115. The Emergency Arbitrator is faced with a difficult situation. The Applicants request the Emergency Arbitrator to intervene in the contractual scheme as agreed between the Parties by ordering the transfer of the B-shares but stopping short of the agreed pay-out to the Respondent.
116. The Applicants have so far put forward little evidence but merely some indications on the basis of which they construe claims against the Respondent. Not all of their legal arguments convince the Emergency Arbitrator, in particular the argument that closing of the 2016 transaction with a payment into an escrow account will prevent the Waiver to take effect. However, the Emergency Arbitrator accepts that it is not for him to form a view on the legal arguments if this could lead to a situation that cannot be factually reversed by the arbitral tribunal.
117. In the light of the aforesaid, the Emergency Arbitrator in the present situation does not only look at whether the Applicants have an arguable case but also weighs the alternative scenarios. First, the situation that the Respondent is deprived of immediately receiving the cash consideration payable against the transfer of its B-Shares in the Target, as contractually agreed. Second, the situation that the Applicants will be deprived of their opportunity to pursue any claims against the Respondent, including claims under civil fraud which would, in any event, not be affected by the Waiver.
118. On balance, the Emergency Arbitrator considers the consequences for the Applicants of a pay-out of the cash consideration to the Respondent to be more grave than the Respondent’s waiting for the pay-out from the escrow account until determined by the arbitral tribunal. Accordingly, the Emergency Arbitrator weighs towards the Applicants’ position.
119. However, any order must also be proportional and not provide for an excessive protection of the Applicants’ interests against the legitimate interests of the Respondent. Accordingly, the Emergency Arbitrator has to consider whether escrowing the entire consideration of USD 448,800,000.00 payable at the transfer of the Respondent’s B-Shares is proportionate.
120. For lack of any meaningful indication of the quantum of the Applicants’ claim, the Emergency Arbitrator must exercise his discretion. In so doing, the Emergency Arbitrator considers the willingness of the Parties to compromise on the escrow amount to be relevant. At the Hearing, the Applicants were willing to accept that only USD 300,000,000.00 be put into escrow. Similarly, the Respondent would have been willing to put USD 75,000,000.00 into escrow, subject to further conditions. Therefore, the range of the escrowed amount discussed between the Parties is between USD 75,000,000.00 and USD 300,000,000.00.
121. For lack of a better indication, the Emergency Arbitrator considers the risks of the Parties to be equal, namely the risk of the Respondent to be 50% to lose the USD 75,000,000.00 it was willing to put into the escrow (subject to further conditions) as well as the Applicants’ chances to be 50% to establish claims in the amount of USD 300,000,000.00. As such, the Emergency Arbitrator considers it appropriate to order an amount of USD 187,500,000.00 into escrow (50% of USD 300,000,000.00 plus 50% of USD 75,000,000.00).
122. The delta between the total cash consideration due under the SPA 2016 at closing in the amount of USD 448,800,000.00 and the USD 187,500,000.00 (to be put into escrow) has to be paid out to the Respondent,
i.e., USD 261,300,000.00
(…)”