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Huge settles spat

The group settles a three-year dispute with a former Huge Telecoms director.

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 26 Aug 2013

A R6.8 million claim against Huge Telecom by a former director came to an end last week, almost three years after the legal wrangle was started.

On Friday, parent company Huge Group told shareholders that it had reached a settlement agreement with Jonathan Peter Kimber and "all actions have been withdrawn by both parties". The exact details of the settlement were not disclosed.

The group's shares lost 20%, or 10c, to close at 40c on a day that the JSE's all share index closed slightly down, dropping 0.05%.

On 22 November 2010, Kimber instituted a claim against Huge Telecom for payment of R6.8 million in terms of an option agreement inked between the parties in September 2008, which was amended the following February.

In October 2011, Kimber launched an application in the South Gauteng High Court, seeking payment of the R6.8 million and interest, which Huge opposed.

The company later approached the court to force Kimber to comply with the arbitration undertakings in the option agreements, which prevent Kimber from litigating in court.

Last August, the court stayed Kimber's application until arbitration was wrapped up and ordered Kimber to pay Huge's costs.

In its latest annual report, the group says the board was of the view that Kimber's claim had "no reasonable prospects of success," which is why it did not raise a liability for it.

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