Agreement
Negotiations about claims for billions of Danish kroner in damages for IC4 delays
When Italian Ansaldo Breda negotiated with the Danish State Railways (DSB) about the consequences of the IC4 delays, claims for damages amounting to several billions of Danish kroner were at issue. Holst, assisted Ansaldo Breda in the negotiations leading to a favourable agreement on the part of Ansaldo Breda.
As is generally known, the delivery of the new IC4 trains to the Danish railways was that much delayed that DSB wanted to terminate the agreement with the supplier, Italian Ansaldo Breda.
This triggered Ansaldo Breda’s attorney to approach Holst, and partner Carsten Led-Jensen, who then assisted Ansaldo Breda in the intense negotiations about the terms for a termination, under which DSB had claimed damages amounting to several billions of Danish kroner.
The negotiations went on for over a year and contemplated a thorough knowledge of the very comprehensive delivery agreement and of any preceding settlement agreements and – especially – a noticeable sense for the tone of negotiations, negotiation tactics and positions.
To Ansaldo Breda, the result was a favourable agreement according to which they were still to deliver the train sets and were entitled to deliver spare parts; and the amount they ended up paying in damages was substantially smaller than the amount initially claimed by DSB.
