In a statement, Tropicana said the claims in the suit filed by Sunway Education, RHB Trustees Bhd and Sunway REIT Management Sdn Bhd were “scandalous, frivolous and vexatious”.
The suit was also an abuse of the court process, Tropicana said.
“In addition, Tropicana counterclaims against Sunway Education on grounds that the claims were filed with ulterior motives and for a collateral purpose to impede, frustrate and interfere with Tropicana’s dealings with its properties and businesses,” the statement added.
It said the claims made by the three entities were aimed at smearing Tropicana’s “good name” and reputation.
On Monday, Sunway Education, RHB Trustees and Sunway REIT Management filed a writ of summons and statement of claim for breach of contract against Tropicana Education Management Sdn Bhd and Tropicana Corporation Bhd.
They claimed that Tropicana had breached a conduct agreement.
According to the statement of claim, Tropicana Education Management offered in April to sell property while Tropicana offered to sell shares to Sunway REIT Management, for an aggregate purchase price of RM208 million.
They claimed they had in May paid Tropicana a refundable deposit of RM4.16 million to allow them to conduct a due-diligence review on the property.
However, the plaintiffs alleged that a “substantial” amount of information was withheld from them, rendering it impossible to complete the review on time.
They claimed that Tropicana was in the meantime negotiating to sell the same property and shares to another party.
Tropicana today, however, denied the allegations and claimed that the alleged “conduct agreement” was non-existent, and described it as nothing more than a “baseless tactic to bolster Sunway’s claim”.
“Parties to the letter of offer have never agreed to deal on an exclusive basis and in any event, Tropicana is free to deal with its properties after the proposed transaction was aborted.
“On this basis, the allegations of ‘double-dealing’, ‘double-crossing’ and dealing in bad faith are unsubstantiated and strictly denied,” it said, adding such serious allegations were a “calculated scheme raised in bad faith to damage Tropicana’s reputation,” the statement said.