Genting Malaysia Berhad has commenced legal proceedings against Twenty-First Century Fox and the Walt Disney Company, relating to the collapse of the first ‘Fox World’ branded theme park, which was to be located at its Resorts World Genting complex, near Kuala Lumpur.
The organisation stated that Fox had “claimed approximately $46.2m in accelerated payments” when terminating its prior memorandum of agreement, within its filing to the Malaysian Stock Exchange.
In the filing Genting Malaysia explained: “The board of GENM refers to the memorandum of agreement dated 1 June 2013 that was entered into between GENM and Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising, a division of Fox Entertainment Group, Inc, whereby GENM was granted a licence to utilise certain intellectual property rights associated with Fox theatrical motion pictures, in connection with the design, development, construction and operation of what was to be called the Twentieth Century Fox World theme park under the Genting Integrated Tourism Plan. The MOA was subsequently amended on 10 June 2014 and 9 June 2017.”
Before detailing that “GENM denies that Fox had grounds to terminate the MOA, denies any liability resulting therefrom, and has pursued cause of action against FOX for breach of contract, and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, among others.
“GENM has also pursued cause of action against Disney and 21CF for inducing breach of contract and for interference with contract. GENM intends to fully enforce its rights under the MOA, claim for the cost of its investments and consequential and punitive damages that in total will exceed USD1 billion (or the equivalent of approximately RM4.2 billion) and such other reliefs to be determined by the court.”
Within the company’s lawsuit filed with the US District Court in Los Angeles, Reuters reports that Genting is seeking punitive damages for having already made an outlay of over $750m, in addition to claiming Fox experienced “seller’s remorse”.
Furthermore, Genting also accuses Fox of stalling on the deal for a number of years as it was seeking a renegotiation of terms, before claiming Disney is now calling the shots, as it stands poised to complete its $71bn purchase of Fox, with the gaming company said to not fit the appropriate family friendly brand image and strategy.
