Unión de Cervecerías Peruanas Backus y Johnston S.A.A., Cervecería San Juan S.A. and AB InBev Southern Investment Ltd. v. Republic of Peru

Case summary

At a glance

Parties: Unión de Cervecerías Peruanas Backus y Johnston S.A.A., Cervecería San Juan S.A. and AB InBev Southern Investment Ltd. v. Republic of Peru
Case no.: ICSID Case No. ARB/24/53
Forum and rules: ICSID
Treaty: Peru–United Kingdom BIT of 1993
Sector: Brewing; tax measures
Outcome: Pending as far as the published documents show. Only the claimants' stock-exchange notices of the filing of the request for arbitration are published.

The dispute

Two Peruvian companies, Unión de Cervecerías Peruanas Backus y Johnston S.A.A. (Backus) and Cervecería San Juan S.A. (CSJ), each told Peru's securities regulator (Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores, SMV) that on 29 November 2024 they and their principal shareholder domiciled in the United Kingdom had filed a request for arbitration against Peru at ICSID. The claim is brought under the 1993 investment treaty between the United Kingdom and Peru. The claimants seek compensation for breaches of that treaty. They say the breaches arise from acts and omissions linked to the government's tax measures, which led to collection proceedings for alleged tax debts and the denial of tax refund requests. The published documents do not set out Peru's position or any decision.

Key holdings

No decision has been published. Backus disclosed to the SMV, as a material event under Article 28 of the Securities Market Law, that it and its UK-domiciled principal shareholder had filed a request for arbitration against Peru at ICSID under the Peru–UK BIT. Backus filing, p. 1
CSJ made the same disclosure on the same day. It stated that the claim seeks damages for treaty breaches arising from tax measures that led to collection proceedings for alleged tax debts and the denial of tax refund requests. CSJ filing, p. 1