Clifford Chance
The Converium decision: promoting the Netherlands as a centre for class settlements
7 February 2012
In this briefing we review the confirmation on 17 January 2012 of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal of its earlier provisional decision in the Converium case, in which it declared the international collective settlement reached between non-US securities holders and two Swiss issuers binding. The interesting aspect of this decision is the Court's finding that it had jurisdiction even though the potentially liable parties were neither domiciled in the Netherlands nor had shares listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, and the vast majority of the shareholders were also based outside the Netherlands.
This ruling will further promote the position of the Netherlands as a centre for the international collective settlement of mass claims and as a forum for non-US securities holders. As such, the Dutch system of class settlements - in conjunction with the US class settlement system - makes the Amsterdam Court of Appeal an attractive venue for parties wishing to reach a global settlement.
