Chile approves settlement that closes ICSID arbitration over airport

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs approved, via Decree No. 89 of April 29, 2026, the settlement that brings a total, definitive, and binding end to ICSID Case No. ARB/21/40, brought by ADP International S.A. and Vinci Airports S.A.S. against the Republic of Chile. The agreement, signed on January 13, 2026, in Santiago, was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,541, of September 3, 2026, under reference CVE 2862930.

The litigation originated from the concession of the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport of Santiago, awarded in 2015 to Nuevo Pudahuel S.A. (NPU), a company formed by ADP International S.A., Vinci Airports S.A.S., and Astaldi Concessioni SpA. The 20-year concession (2015-2035) established a revenue distribution of 22.4% for the concessionaire and 77.6% for the State.

The Arbitration and the Domestic Award

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the concessionaire claimed a drastic reduction in its revenues and requested mitigation measures from the Ministry of Public Works (MOP), which attributed the losses to risks assumed by the company. On August 5, 2021, ADP and Vinci initiated arbitration before ICSID, alleging violations of the reciprocal investment protection agreement with France (APPRI) and claiming USD 428.2 million plus interest.

In parallel, the Arbitral Commission of the concession issued an award on May 15, 2024, declaring the pandemic a supervening event that altered the commutativity of the contract, obliging the parties to negotiate in good faith. The complaint filed by the MOP was rejected by the Santiago Court of Appeals on June 9, 2025.

The Terms of the Agreement

The settlement is framed within the Agreement Protocol signed on September 5, 2025, after 19 working group sessions, and was recommended by the Interministerial Committee for the Defense of the State in International Controversies in its session No. LIV, of September 10, 2025. The main commitments are:

• 36-month extension of the concession term, fixed for all events.
• Temporary reduction of the percentage of revenue delivered to the State, from 77.6% to 73.00% during the extension period.
• Major maintenance required by the MOP paid periodically to the concessionaire at pro forma value.
• Irrevocable waiver by the plaintiffs of all their claims against Chile, without recognition of liability by the State.

The settlement will be incorporated into an award in accordance with Rule 43(2) of the ICSID (2006) Arbitration Rules, once the modifying decree of the concession is published in the Official Gazette. The agreement is signed by Albert van Klaveren Stork, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, for Chile; Fernando Echegaray, for ADP International S.A.; and Rémi Maumon de Longevialle, for Vinci Airports S.A.S. The decree was signed by the President of the Republic, José Antonio Kast Rist, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Francisco Pérez Mackenna.

Impact on public finances

The agreement closes a high-value dispute for the State, which had challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal and denied having breached its international obligations. The decree expressly establishes that the settlement does not incur expenses for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the parties shall each bear their own costs and pay in equal shares the fees of the tribunal and ICSID.

The resolution avoids a potential adverse award of USD 428.2 million plus interest and, in exchange, reorganizes the concession of the country’s main airport with a three-year extension and a lower State share of revenues during that period. For readers, the news implies fiscal relief and legal certainty regarding a strategic infrastructure, although it involves temporarily yielding part of the concession revenues.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,541, September 3, 2026, General Norms, page 1 of 8 (official reference: CVE 2862930).