KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 5): A lawsuit filed in August last year by Konsortium Transnasional Bhd and six companies linked to the group against Tan Chong Motor Holdings Bhd has been dismissed.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia today, Tan Chong said the High Court has allowed its subsidiary Tan Chong Industrial Equipment Sdn Bhd's (TCIE) application to strike out the claim made by the seven companies.

The court has also dismissed an injunction application by the companies, namely Konsortium Transnasional, Transnasional Express Sdn Bhd, Plusliner Sdn Bhd, Syarikat Kenderaan Melayu Kelantan Bhd (SKMK), Syarikat Rembau Tampin Sdn Bhd (SRT), Kenderaan Langkasuka Sdn Bhd (Langkasuka) and MHSB Properties Sdn Bhd.

The companies had filed the injunction to stop TCIE from repossessing vehicles leased to them, and from making any deals in relation to a plot of land that was initially promised to the unit in a debt settlement deal.

They had also sued to recover an unspecified compensation sum for TCIE's part acquisition of the land, and for the repayment of RM22.68 million.

Transnasional, Plusliner, SKMK, SRT and Langkasuka are actually TCIE's debtors who owed TCIE RM32.92 million in outstanding rentals and service bills for the lease and maintenance of the vehicles.

A settlement agreement for the debt was reached on July 4, 2016, under which the debtors agreed to repay RM16.92 million in several cash instalments to TCIE, and transfer a plot of land in Ampang owned by MHSB to TCIE to settle the remaining RM16 million.

TCIE then inked a sale and purchase agreement with MHSB and Nadicorp Holdings Sdn Bhd — which controls Konsortium Trasnasional — for the acquisition of the land.

However, Tan Chong claimed that the debtors had failed to make timely repayments of the debt in accordance with the settlement agreement and TCIE had exercised its contractual rights to repossess the vehicles leased to the debtors.

Besides stopping TCIE from repossessing and disposing of the vehicles leased to them, the seven companies had also wanted an injunction to prevent TCIE from entering any deals over the land, as well as another injunction to prevent TCIE from taking any enforcement action under the settlement agreement. They had also wanted a declaration that the land's value is RM55.6 million.

Tan Chong shares closed up 14 sen or 9.5% today at RM1.61, for a market capitalisation of RM1.05 billion.

Konsortium Transnasional shares settled unchanged at 15 sen, for a market capitalisation of RM60.42 million.