Dubai-based Al Habtoor Group announced on Monday that it was starting its arbitration case against Lebanon, which it filed in Washington, D.C.
This shift comes after months of investment wrangles between the two Arab countries, where Al Habtoor complained that Lebanon had not addressed “severe breaches” and “damages” within six months of notice.
It stated that the Group has appointed White & Case to defend it in its arbitration case, set to take place in Washington, D.C., for its “accordance with the dispute resolution mechanisms provided under the Bilateral Investment Treaty between the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.”
White & Case is a prominent global law firm that focuses on sovereign disputes and treaty-related investment arbitration and has been ranked the #1 global law firm in shareholder activism in the Bloomberg FY 2025 Global Activism League Tables.
The Al Habtoor Group, under the leadership of Emirati billionaire Khalaf Al Habtoor, is a major conglomerate in the Gulf, running hospitality, automotives, real estate, education, and publishing divisions.
Its real estate sector operates in the United Kingdom, Hungary, Austria, and the United States, as well as Lebanon, in addition to the UAE.
The conglomerate had started its dispute with the Levantine nation in January when it threatened to sue the nation after alleging that Lebanese authorities had failed to take action.
It also announced in the same month that it will shut down all its operations in Lebanon and dismiss its staff in case of losses of Dh6.24 billion. It said it was a decision made based on instability in the long run, continued hostile campaigns against it, public attacks on Al Habtoor, and defamatory statements.
The Group said in a statement in January, “Throughout years marked by successive wars and crises, the group absorbed substantial operational and financial burdens, honoured its obligations to its employees, and treated this period as a humanitarian responsibility before a commercial one, despite the absence of effective state decision-making and the failure to provide the minimum levels of stability and protection required.”
Al Habtoor Group reported that all of its investments in Lebanon were made “in good faith” and “in reliance on Lebanese law and binding international obligations.”
Al Habtoor introduced its first property in Lebanon in 2001, a 180-room hotel called the Metropolitan Palace Hotel in the heart of Beirut. An Emirati billionaire wrote on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) in January 2025 that he would sell all his properties in Lebanon since it’s unsafe and lacks stability, describing it a “painful” decision.
