Founder/Managing Director

Kim Smajlovic, CVA

Founder/Managing Director – Fortis Disputes & Consulting, LLC

ksmajlovic@fortisdisputes.com

Kim Smajlovic is the founder and Principal at Fortis Disputes & Consulting, LLC, and for over 20 years has provided privileged and expert consulting services in the context of international arbitration, commercial litigation, and other complex disputes or claims.

Ms. Smajlovic has led engagements and advised clients (businesses, investors, sovereign governments and their counsel) in both privileged and expert consulting roles on matters involving claims of lost profits, diminished or expropriated asset or investment value, infringed intellectual property rights, and fraud, across all stages of the disputes life cycle ranging from discovery to settlement. These matters have spanned a wide range of industries including energy, technology, real estate, agribusiness, financial institutions, chemicals, retail, and manufacturing, among others.

She has assessed damages, addressed issues of economic causation and class certification, and provided testimony and written evidence in disputes heard before U.S. state and federal courts, and in international commercial and investor-state disputes under the auspices of various arbitral forums including ICSID, ICC, PCA, and SIAC, and under UNCITRAL arbitration rules. Prior to founding Fortis Disputes & Consulting in 2023, Ms. Smajlovic was a Senior Director at Alvarez & Marsal for 18 years, and prior to that held roles at Navigant Consulting (now Ankura), where she focused on dispute analysis, commercial litigation and investigations.

Ms. Smajlovic earned a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Business Honors from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a Certified Valuation Analyst (“CVA”), and is a member of ArbitralWomen and the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts.

Select Professional Experience

International Arbitration

• PCA arbitration between a real estate development company and an African nation (Respondent). Assessed damages in relation to the breach of a leasehold agreement for the construction of a waterfront mixed-use real estate development. Case is ongoing.
• UNCITRAL arbitration between a Turkish construction company and an African nation (Claimant). Calculated damages associated with the cancellation of the construction of an industrial city. Case is ongoing.
• ICC arbitration between an Austrian electric/hybrid transmission design firm and a Chinese manufacturer of electric/hybrid buses and heavy commercial Vehicles (Claimant). Calculated damages to Claimant based on Respondent’s alleged theft and misappropriation of Claimant’s transmission designs and subsequent patenting thereof.
• PCA Arbitration Between Indian Investors vs. Balkan State (Respondent): Currently advising a Balkan state in a dispute involving multifaceted damages claimed by Indian investors related to coke and fertilizer manufacturing facilities located in the Balkans. The case involves complex technical and financial assessments, with a focus on analyzing the root cause of the damages claimed. The overall claim exceeds $400 million. The case is bifurcated and ongoing.
• ICSID Arbitration Dispute Involving Minority Shareholder in Central Eastern European Coal Power Plant and Mine (Claimant): The Claimant initiated a dispute against a European state under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), alleging that actions taken by the state breached several ECT provisions, including those related to unlawful expropriation and the denial of fair and equitable treatment (FET). These actions allegedly resulted in the expropriation of the Claimant’s minority stake in a local mining company. My role involves calculating the lost profits and determining the value of the expropriated business. The case is ongoing.
• ICSID arbitration between a CIS telecommunications company and a sovereign state (Claimant). Calculated the fair market value of Claimant’s expropriated telecommunications operations in a sovereign nation, as well as historical lost profits associated with certain illegal measures. Case is ongoing.
• ICSID arbitration between a bank holding company and a sovereign nation (Respondent). Assessed the fair market value of Claimant’s banking operations in a CIS nation after the bank was shut down by regulators. Case is ongoing.
• PCA arbitration between an individual investor and a Balkan state (Claimant). Calculated the fair market value of Claimant’s expropriated real estate investments (33 total), including hotel, office, retail, and luxury villa. Case is ongoing.
• UNCITRAL arbitration involving a part owner of an oil & gas concession in the East China Sea and Chinese O&G conglomerate (Respondent). Evaluated damages to a working interest owner in an offshore Chinese gas field which would allow for an equitable dissolution of its Production Sharing Agreement and other associated development contracts with Chinese conglomerate, and prepared counterclaim. Tribunal awarded value calculated by A&M as well as full counterclaim to Respondent.
• ICSID arbitration between a Cypriot investor and a Balkan State (Claimant). Advised client on the valuation of its investment portfolio (various real-estate developments in Serbia, factoring business, banking certificates, and various other commercial investments) which was impaired due to the alleged actions of the sovereign state. Case is ongoing.
• ICSID arbitration between a Middle Eastern fertilizer producer and a sovereign state (Respondent). Evaluated damages to a fertilizer manufacturer located in a developing country as a result of its loss of status as a free zone company, as well as alleged differential treatment from the government in its natural gas supply contracts. Case settled prior to hearing.
• ICSID arbitration between a consortium of investors in renewable energy projects and a sovereign state (Claimant). Advised a consortium of banks on the impact of regulatory changes on the fair market value of their debt holdings related to 70+ solar and solar-thermal projects which underlie hundreds of loans issued by the banks. Case is ongoing.
• ICSID arbitration between and integrated oil and gas company and a South American nation (Claimant). Modeled the fair market value of more than $4 billion of assets owned by a major U.S. integrated oil and gas company that were expropriated by a South American government. Also quantified economic damages arising from illegal pre-expropriation measures, including significant royalty and income tax increases, export curtailments and project expansion disallowance.