Assignment of arbitration clauses: assignment in the course of the arbitration

Arbitration is by its nature consensual and betweenthe parties to the arbitration agreement. A question arising from time to timeis whether an arbitrating company that ceases to exist in the course of thearbitration and transfers its undertaking to a third party is entitled toassign the benefit of the arbitration clause.

The principle adopted in A v B [2016] EWHC 3003 (Comm) by Sir Jeremy Cooke is that if the transfer operates to effect a vesting of the company’s rights in a third party under the law governing the transfer, then the arbitrators are entitled to give permission for the transferee to continue the arbitration in its own name as long as notice is given to the other party and the transferee submits to the jurisdiction of the arbitrators.