Bilshan Nursimulu

Practice Areas

Commercial & Corporate Litigation

International Arbitration

Professional Memberships

Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

Publications

The Public Policy Exception in African Jurisdictions – UCT Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Collected Papers Series, Conference Insights (ADRU Collected Papers 2024/01)

Mauritius: roadmap to enforcing claims against offshore companies – CDR Magazine, 01 June 2021

Does an arbitration agreement protect a debtor from the threat of liquidation? – Hogan Lovells ARBlog (Co-author), 27 July 2020

The Mauritius courts’ approach to force majeure defences, Business Magazine (15 April 2020)

The Choice of a Mauritian Arbitral Institution, Kluwer Arbitration Blog (Co-author)

Should the Courts Intervene to Prevent an Invalid Arbitration?, MARC Insights 2019 (Co-author)

The Mauritius International Arbitration Act – A Decade On, Legal Business Disputes Yearbook 2019 (Co-author)

Getting the Deal Through – Litigation Funding, Co-author of chapter on Mauritius (2018 & 2019)

International Arbitration Law and Practice, Chambers & Partners, Co-author of chapter on Mauritius (2018 & 2019)

‘The Frustration of Bankers’ Employment Contracts by Effect of the EU Bonus Cap’ (2013) 24 King’s Law Journal 413-423

Work Highlights

Counsel for Cairn Energy in an application to enforce an international arbitral award of c.USD 1.2 billion against the Republic of India before the Supreme Court of Mauritius.

Counsel for the operator of offshore oil platforms in an application to enforce an LCIA award for third party litigation costs of c.USD 6 million. The litigation funding agreement was governed by English law. The application was successful before the Supreme Court of Mauritius. The judgment is under appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council; the appeal raises questions relating to the enforceability of the litigation funding agreement in the aftermath of the UK Supreme Court’s judgment in PACCAR.

Counsel for the director of a Mauritius investment holding company before the Supreme Court of Mauritius and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to proceed with a derivative action in the name and on behalf of a company in liquidation. The derivative action is for dilution of shares in breach of pre-emptive provisions for an amount of c.USD 320 million.

Counsel for a US-based litigation funder to advise on taking security interest in an arbitration claim and its proceeds.

Junior Counsel for a private equity fund (claimant) in an LCIA-MIAC arbitration seated in Mauritius. The claimant successfully claimed USD 4 million of damages against another fund for unlawful termination / repudiatory breach of a share purchase agreement through which the claimant would have exited an investment in India.

Advised King & Spalding, London on Mauritius law issues that arise in a series of arbitral proceedings commenced by US-based investors against an offshore fund which is incorporated in Mauritius to develop high-end real estate projects in India. Certain investors (the claimants) allege inter alia mismanagement of the fund by the directors and fraud committed by the fund’s management company.

Counsel for a private equity investment vehicle (set up to acquire refined petroleum storage tank farms across West Africa) to resist an application for an injunction before the Judge in Chambers that purported to prevent the conversion of convertible loans into ordinary shares.

Counsel for a Cayman fund in an application to enforce the redemption of shares in a Mauritius PCC through a receivership order.

Junior Counsel for Betamax Ltd (led by Stuart Isaacs KC), a Mauritian company, in a dispute against the State Trading Corporation (“STC”), which is the trading arm of the Government of Mauritius. Betamax Ltd owns an oil tanker. The dispute arose from STC’s termination of a long-term contract of affreightment with Betamax Ltd. Successfully appeared for Betamax Ltd (claimant) in a SIAC arbitration seated in Mauritius and in which the sole arbitrator (Dr Michael Pryles) awarded damages of c.USD 115 million against STC. Appeared for Betamax Ltd in enforcement proceedings before the Supreme Court of Mauritius. Instructed and assisted Indian Counsel in enforcement proceedings before the High Court of Karnataka in India, where Betamax Ltd seeks to enforce the arbitral award against petroleum products purchased by STC in Mangalore. Retained by Betamax Ltd to assist panel of English lawyers (led by Mark Howard KC and Salim Moollan KC) in an appeal to the Privy Council against the judgment of the Supreme Court of Mauritius to set aside an arbitral award of c.USD 115 million for public policy considerations. Appeal allowed.

Education