Practice—Pre-trial or post-judgment relief—Freezing order

Queen’s Bench Division, Commercial Court, Popplewell J, 7 Mar 2013

The High Court has given guidance on the jurisdiction in T.S.B Private Bank International SA v Chabra [1992] 2 All ER 245 (the Chabra jurisdiction) concerning freezing orders against the ultimate beneficial owner of the assets of a corporate defendant.

Mr D’Cruz (instructed by Eversheds LLP) for the claimant. Ms Healy (instructed by Ince & Co) for the corporate defendants.

The claimant bank was a public joint stock company incorporated under Ukrainian law. It obtained a freezing order against the second to the fourth defendants (the corporate defendants), which were companies registered under the laws of England and Wales. The bank brought arbitration proceedings in London against the first defendant, M. The proceedings concerned a framework agreement under which M was to sell a major stake in the bank to another major shareholder (TBIF). The sale was subject to conditions