O-I wins right to enforce $485 million Venezuelan debt

Published 8th April, 2016 by Greg Morris

The World Bank’s dispute body has ruled that O-I can pursue enforcement of an earlier arbitration $485 million award against the country of Venezuela, which seized ownership of two of O-I’s bottle-making plants in the South American country in October, 2010.

The award includes interest since the illegal seizures by President Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013. The case still could be affected by Venezuela’s request to the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes that the award be nullified.

The Perrysburg, Ohio company said it will take vigorous steps to collect the award, which is enforceable in about 150 member states subject to the International Centre’s jurisdiction.

However, even with the committee’s latest ruling, O-I said collecting the $485 million will be difficult and it cannot predict how much money it might receive or when.

Greg Morris

Glass International Editor

Greg Morris has been editor of Glass International and organiser of the Glassman conferences since 2012, specialising in glass packaging. Prior to this he spent five years working in newspaper journalism.