A legal dispute over the acquisition of
Forbes
magazine by Chinese investors in 2014 has been settled out of court,
the
Financial Times
reported.
In October 2015, Integrated Whale Media (IWM), based in Hong Kong, failed to make a $40,000 interest installment payment. IWM had agreed to buy 95% of Forbes Media for $415 million, the
FT
report noted.
The deal called for IWM to pay $350 million for 80% of Forbes at the time of the agreement and another $65.6 million in installments. “To finance the second part of the takeover, IWM agreed to borrow an undisclosed amount of money from the Forbes family to complete the transaction. As part of the loan agreement, IWM had to repay the loan in installments staggered over a period of years,” the
FT
article said.
Forbes family members claimed in their suit that IWM refused to pay what it owed and also refused to free up $17.5 million that had been placed in escrow to cover potential claims based on any breaches of contract when the company was run by the family, the article said.
Both parties now say the dispute has been settled, the
FT
report said. Terms were not disclosed, although the article cited an unnamed source who said IWM agreed to pay all the outstanding amount and late payment interest and has released all the funds in the escrow account.
“Forbes will retain a 5 per cent stake in the business as originally agreed at the time of the sale, the
FT
article said. (Source:
Financial Times
, Jan. 23, 2017.)
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