$100M TMA CASE LISTED BY WORLD BANK

In a major step forward for TMA in its fight against the Philippines government, in relation to the $100m joint venture in a thermal paper printing operation, the case has been listed by the court of the World Bank in Washington DC.

The listing means the Philippines government will have to abide by whatever ruling the court hands down, or risk having assets seized by the court and handed over to TMA.

TMA is seeking the return of its $100m investment in the thermal paper plant, located in Manila, which has been mothballed for more than a decade, and significant damages as well.

Anthony Karam, CEO of TMA said, "We are very happy with the progress. We believe we will get a fair outcome, and that the decision will have to be abided by."

The case will likely take three to four years before it is heard. The Philippines government sought to have its listing blocked, but TMA succeeded. Karam said, “This is the body that deals with international disputes under the Australian and Philippines Government Bilaterial Invenment Treaty, we are confident in the rigour of its assessments.”

TMA Australia is seeking redress and compensation from the government-owned Philippines Charity Sweepstake Office (PCSO) over their collapsed JV. The case will now be heard by the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

TMA says that for the past 14 years the PCSO has done everything in its power to avoid its obligations under the JV agreement, notwithstanding several court orders compelling it to honour and perform its contractual obligations.

It says that in what has become a salutary lesson for foreign investors in the Philippines, TMA, on the faith of promises and assurances by the PCSO, contained in what was then confirmed to be a valid and binding investment agreement, invested more than $100m in the construction of a thermal paper plant in 2008.

According to TMA when it came time for the PCSO to uphold its end of the bargain, by ordering and paying for paper produced by the TMA plant, it embarked on a politically motivated campaign, aided by various divisions of the Philippines government, which had the cumulative effect of expropriating TMA’s investment, and denying its contractual rights, without fair compensation.

TMA says this eviscerated its investment, subjected it to unfair, arbitrary and inequitable treatment, and effectively denied it justice by embroiling the investor in protracted domestic litigation.

After many years of attempting legal redress in the Philippines, with courts there declining jurisdiction to hear the case, two years ago TMA embarked on the action that has culminated in the listing at the World Bank’s court.

Established in 1996, TMA is a diverse operation producing printed tickets, tags, labels, packaging, promotional products, and a host of other solutions including print management and 3/4PL. It owns several print businesses including Impress Colour and Premier, and a number of related businesses including LMA flexible packaging and labels, the ZipBy touchless parking app, and Call Journey AI-powered conversation analytics. It bought the Spotpress heaset web offset business 18 months ago to offer an alternative to IVE, and acquired sign and display operation Pressfast last November.