Approves BDT-Lisa settlement, lifts $19M attachment and formalizes assignment of litigation rights
Apr 12 2022
12th Civil Court
Through Order No. 898 of April 12, 2022, the Twelfth Civil Circuit Court of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama approves the extrajudicial settlement submitted by the parties in the simple executive proceeding brought by BDT Investments Inc. against Lisa, S.A. The ruling terminates the proceeding and orders the lifting of the precautionary attachment that had encumbered Lisa's assets across multiple jurisdictions for nearly a decade.
The simple executive proceeding had given rise, on December 12, 2012, to a $19,184,680.00 attachment decree under Order No. 1838. That precautionary measure covered a broad set of Lisa, S.A.'s assets: shares in eight companies (including Villamorey, S.A. and several Avícola Villalobos Group companies incorporated in Guatemala), pending and future dividends, funds deposited at GTC Bank Inc. through Villamorey, rights and credits arising from the ordinary proceeding with sequestration action (Case File 556-99), and any sums held by Lisa in local banks. The attachment remained in force for over nine years without effective recovery of the debt.
The parties submitted to the Court an extrajudicial settlement agreement signed on February 19, 2020, by counsel for both parties (attorney Carlos Muñoz for the plaintiff and attorney María Villarreal for the defendant). The agreement, titled "Settlement Agreement with Assignment of Rights," was executed between Lisa, S.A. (represented by Harald Johannessen Hals, president of its Board of Directors) and BDT Investments Inc. (represented by Patrick Alexander Doig, director).
The Court verified that the proponents were duly authorized to settle and withdraw from the proceeding and that the settlement clauses did not contravene the legal order, satisfying the requirements of Article 1082 of the Judicial Code.
The agreement provides that Lisa, S.A. assigns and transfers to BDT all rights and obligations arising from approximately 250 pending judicial actions in Guatemalan and Panamanian courts, releasing itself from any present or future compensation related to them. From the date of the agreement, BDT assumes all past, present, and future litigation rights, along with the obligation to cover all necessary legal expenses and costs. In turn, BDT grants Lisa a full discharge of accumulated debt. The parties declare the agreement confidential, submit its interpretation to the laws and courts of Barbados, and mutually release each other from judicial or extrajudicial actions related to the matters settled.