This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 9, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Nylex (Malaysia) Bhd said it had entered into an agreement with Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd for both parties to settle their legal dispute over the refund of deposits totalling RM10 million.

Under the agreement, Utusan will transfer The Trax, a mixed development near Utusan’s headquarters in the Jalan Chan Sow Lin area, to Nylex. The property, valued at RM6.7 million, will set off against Nylex’s claim. Utusan will also reimburse Nylex the stamp duty for the assignment or transfer of The Trax by March 31, 2021, Nylex said in a stock exchange filing.

The remaining RM2.89 million will be paid by the Practice Note 17 media company to Nylex vide monthly instalments. The first instalment is to be paid by Jan 31, 2020.

Meanwhile, Utusan also signed a settlement agreement with Redberry Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Ancom Bhd. Under the agreement, Utusan will procure its wholly-owned unit, Utusan Airtime Sdn Bhd, to transfer all its shares representing a 20% stake in Titanium Compass Sdn Bhd, valued at RM6 million.

Redberry will bear the agreed portion of the loss suffered by Utusan of RM2.02 million in connection with the supply of tablet agreement, by setting off that amount against the judgement sum.

All parties will withdraw their claims or counterclaims within five days of execution of the agreement, with no liberty to file afresh.

In September 2018, Nylex filed a suit against Utusan for allegedly failing to refund the RM10 million deposit which had been remitted for the proposed “Advertisement, Branding and Communication” exercise in January 2018, as well as its “Nationwide Corporate Branding” and “Corporate Social Responsibility” campaigns in February 2018.

Redberry’s claim stated that Utusan had failed to refund the RM8.5 million deposit paid for the “Advertising, Branding and Communication” exercise by Redberry Media Group through Utusan Malaysia and Mingguan Malaysia on April 30 last year.