이 기사는 2021년 03월 11일 17:35 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

China’s Anbang Insurance Group has appealed to a Delaware court following a court decision favoring Mirae Asset Daewoo over a failed hotels deal.

In February, the court sided with a consortium led by Mirae Asset Daewoo, ordering the Chinese company to return a deposit of $572 million plus accrued interest of $23.4 million to the South Korean investment bank. It also ruled that Mirae was entitled to court costs, including its attorneys’ fees and expenses.

The decision came eight months after Mirae filed a counterclaim alleging that Anbang was responsible for the collapse of the deal, in response to a lawsuit filed by the insurance company that argued Mirae must fulfill its promised payment for 15 U.S. hotels. The investment bank agreed in 2018 to buy the hotels from Anbang for $5.8 billion.

Anbang, which worked with Gibson Dunn for the first trial, hired another law firm to assist the company with an appeal battle, according to legal sources.

Mirae also hired a legal counsel specializing in appeals, in addition to Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Peter & Kim. It asked the court to set a date for trail as soon as possible.

The Delaware state court system is a two-tier system, meaning that decisions of the appeal court are final. In its petition, Anbang did not set forth the reasons for the appeal, which should be stated by next month.

“The move by Anbang comes as no surprise. Anbang wouldn’t want to lose the court battle it initiated,” said a legal source. “But it is unclear whether the company will be able to convince the appeal court to reverse the ruling, which was very conclusive.”

“The sooner a trial date is set, the more benefit Mirae will have, because that means less time for Anbang to prepare its appeal,” said another legal source. (Reporting by Byung-yoon Kim)