NEW YORK // A lawyer for the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) has urged a judge in the United States to overturn an arbitration panel's ruling favouring Citigroup in a dispute over a US$7.5 billion (Dh27.5bn) investment in Citi during the subprime meltdown.
Adia, which was created in 1976 and invests on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Government, last year lost the arbitration case, which sought $4bn in damages from what it said were fraudulent representations by Citi leading up to the deal.
At a hearing in the US district court in Manhattan, a lawyer for the fund said the arbitrators applied the wrong law to come to the decision. "They manifestly disregarded the principles," David Elsberg, a lawyer for Adia, said on Thursday.
Judge George Daniels repeatedly pressed Mr Elsberg on how the arbitrators used the wrong legal analysis. "You can't simply say they gave them credit for 10 things and us for eight, and so that's a manifest disregard of the law," he said.
Adia bought into Citigroup in November 2007, as the bank moved to boost its balance sheet following billions of dollars in writedowns from subprime mortgage investments.
Under the deal, Citi bonds bought by Adia would convert to common stock in 2010 and last year, at prices of between $31.83 and $37.24 between March 2010 and September last year.
But in December 2009, Adia began arbitration, accusing Citi of "grossly misstating" the bank's financial condition, according to court papers. Adia sought to rescind the investment or receive $4bn in damages.
Shares in Citi on the day it disclosed the arbitration in 2009 had closed at $3.56. By the close of trade on Thursday, they were much higher, at $36 a share and down 0.14 per cent on the day.
In October last year, a three-arbitrator panel of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association issued an award finding Adia had failed to establish its claim. Adia went to court in January seeking to vacate the award.
The fund argues that the arbitration tribunal incorrectly applied New York law to its claims of fraud rather than those of Abu Dhabi, which do not require as much proof.
Mr Elsberg said applying the wrong law to the case was equal to a baseball umpire using the wrong rule book. "Because of the choice of law, it was judged against the wrong standard," Mr Elsberg said.
But the Citigroup counsel, Leslie Fagen, said the panel had laid out all the factors for why it would follow New York law instead. "They went through everything," he said. "They didn't disregard anything."
In court papers, Citigroup has also argued the court should confirm the award.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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One in four Americans don't plan to retire
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.
Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.
According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.
According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.
For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.
"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."
When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared.
"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.
She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
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The specs: 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio
Price, base: Dh198,300
Engine: 2.0L in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 280hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 2,250rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7L / 100km
Porsche Macan T: The Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 265hp from 5,000-6,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm from 1,800-4,500rpm
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto
Speed: 0-100kph in 6.2sec
Top speed: 232kph
Fuel consumption: 10.7L/100km
On sale: May or June
Price: From Dh259,900