A lawsuit in the United States from a minority investor in the Resorts World Bimini casino resort in the Bahamas – that seeks more than US$600 million in damages and names Genting Americas Inc as defendant – is an attempt by the claimant “to extract an exorbitant payment from Genting Americas and inflict severe reputational damage” upon the firm.
That is according to a statement submitted to Bursa Malaysia on Thursday, by Genting Malaysia Bhd, the parent company of Genting Americas, and which refuted the claims as “baseless and without merit”.
It added: “We do not expect there to be any material impact on the financial results or operations of the Genting Malaysia group from such claims.”
Genting Americas is reportedly preparing a detailed response to the complaint, and that will be submitted to the court in the “coming weeks”, the filing stated.
The latest filing to Bursa Malaysia by the Genting side came after the country’s stock market regulator requested “additional information” on the court case. The request followed an initial filing on the matter by Genting Malaysia on Monday.
At the time, the Genting side confirmed that the complaint had been filed on October 7 in a U.S. District Court in Florida by RAV Bahamas Ltd, a 22-percent investor in BB Entertainment Ltd, the operating entity of Resorts World Bimini. Genting Malaysia indirectly holds a 78-percent interest in BB Entertainment.
The Monday filing confirmed RAV Bahamas was seeking damages “in excess of US$600 million,” but did not mention the reasons.
In its lates disclosure, Genting Malaysia did not disclose particulars of the claim under the complaint filed by RAV Bahamas, Instead, it said these were “baseless allegations against Genting Americas.”
The firm added: “The suit is nothing more than a shareholder dispute in which RAV Bahamas seeks unsubstantiated damages in excess of US$600 million, and also requests pre- and post-judgment interest at unspecified rates. These malicious and baseless claims are an attempt by RAV Bahamas and its principals to extract an exorbitant payment from Genting Americas and inflict severe reputational damage upon Genting Americas.”
