Churchill Mining granted stay in Indonesia annulment after pledging land as security

Churchill Mining updated the market on Friday on its bid to annul an international tribunal’s award against it, made late last year.

The formerly AIM-traded company launched annulment proceedings in April, after the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Dispute (ICSID) determined the company’s claims that the Indonesian authorities had improperly revoked its coal mining rights was based on forged documents.

It was ordered to pay $9.44m in court and legal costs to Indonesia.

At the time of launching the proceedings, Churchill Mining said it remained “deeply troubled” by many aspects of the tribunal’s decision.

In late June, the annulment committee granted Churchill a staying enforcement of the award, pending its decision on the company’s application for annulment, subject to the company pledged the land it purchased for the East Kutai Coal Project in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, as security.

“The ICSID Committee has now ruled that by making a unilateral pledge in signing a deed poll under Australian law, the company has used its best efforts to pledge the Port Land and has satisfied the condition of the committee's decision of 27 June,” the board confirmed on Friday.

“Accordingly, the committee decided that the stay on enforcement of the award of 6 December 2016 will continue pending decision on the company's annulment application.”

Churchill’s shares had previously been cancelled from trading on AIM, as the board had announced on 7 June, as the proceedings were set to take longer than the six months allowed under the AIM rules.

It had applied for admission to the NEX Exchange Growth Market as an alternative in the meantime, to ensure shareholders would continue to enjoy the protection afforded by the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers.