Dubai-based Al Habtoor Group is set to begin its arbitration case against Lebanon, which it filed in Washington, D.C., the Group announced on Monday. This follows months of investment disputes between the two Arab nations, in which Al Habtoor said Lebanon failed to resolve “severe breaches” and “damages” after six months of notice.
The Group has appointed White & Case to represent 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,” it said.
White & Case is a leading international law firm specialising in sovereign disputes and treaty-based investment arbitration, and has been named the #1 global law firm for shareholder activism in Bloomberg’s FY 2025 Global Activism League Tables.
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Al Habtoor Group, chaired by Emirati billionaire Khalaf Al Habtoor, is one of the largest conglomerates in the Gulf, with divisions in hospitality, automotives, real estate, education, and publishing. Its real estate arm operates both in the UAE and globally, in the United Kingdom, Hungary, Austria, the United States, and Lebanon.
The conglomerate began its spat with the Levantine country in January, where it threatened to take legal action following claims of a lack of action from Lebanese authorities.
That same month, it announced it will cease all operations in Lebanon and fire all if its staff following losses amounting to Dh6.24 billion. The decision was taken due to prolonged instability, ongoing hostile campaigns, public attacks against Al Habtoor, and defamatory actions, it said earlier.
“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,” the Group said in a statement in January.
Al Habtoor Group added that all of its investments in Lebanon were made “in good faith” and “in reliance on Lebanese law and binding international obligations.”
Al Habtoor opened its first property in Lebanon in 2001, a 180-room hotel called the Metropolitan Palace Hotel in the heart of Beirut. In January 2025, the Emirati billionaire wrote on the social media platform X that he would sell all his properties in Lebanon due to a lack of security and stability, calling it a “painful” decision.
