CDR | 13 January 2025
AB InBev takes on Peru over tax bill
by Andrew Mizner
The global beer brewing giant has filed an ICSID challenge to the Peruvian tax authority’s attempts to recover an outstanding tax bill and its refusal to allow refunds.
International brewery AB InBev has filed an arbitration challenging the tax policies of the government of Peru.
A UK subsidiary of the Belgium-headquartered beer producer and two Peruvian companies owned by it filed the case on 23 December at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) under the 1993 UK-Peru bilateral investment treaty (BIT).
The case was announced by the Peruvian companies Backus y Johnston and Cervecería San Juan in 29 November filings to Peru’s market authority, Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores (SMV). The notification letters cited Peru’s Securities Market Law, and laid out claims for compensation for tax measures taken by SUNAT, the country’s tax authority, to recover taxes owed by the companies between 2014 and 2019.
A Peruvian court had previously refused the companies’ attempt to overturn the tax agency’s collection orders and reports suggest the amount in dispute could be worth up to USD 425 million. The letter from the companies described the policy as “a clear breach of international law” (CDR’s translation).
AB InBev accounts for over a quarter of the world’s beer market, while Backus y Johnston and Cervecería San Juan dominate the Peruvian market.
The claimants have instructed arbitration lawyers from the Houston and Miami offices of Atlanta-headquartered law firm King & Spalding to handle their claim. The firm declined to comment on the case.
Following the filing, the companies made a further request for provisional measures on 30 December.
Research published in November last year revealed that Peru is one of the world’s worst performers for paying investor-state arbitration awards, however in May 2024, the state defeated an ICSID arbitration brought by a US mining logistics company over the seizure of gold exports.
King & Spalding promoted 18 disputes lawyers to partner in its latest promotions round, effective 1 January.
