And is suing in London to prove it.
Jagex is back in court, and this time it isn’t because someone is angry over their account getting muted. Back in 2019 we reported that Jagex’s owner Shanghai Fukong International planned on selling the RuneScape developer. Later that year news outlet Yicai Global announced that the sale had been finalized to US Platinum Fortune. The purpose of the sale was not due to Jagex’s success which has been growing year over year, but to settle Fukong’s debts from lawsuits.
“The goal of the sale is not to offload bad assets, but to pay off heavy debts that Fukong has incurred from nearly 60 lawsuits and arbitration cases filed against the company (Fukong, not Jagex).”
Well now Jagex is getting sued over allegations that the sale was illegal. China Minsheng Trust Co. Ltd. (try saying that with a mouth full of bees) has sued Jagex in London in an effort to prove that the company was sold in violation of a freeze order over a $100 million loan in China. A court ruling had transferred Fukong’s shares in Shanghai Hongtou Network Technology Co. (the company that actually owned Jagex) to CMT.
The long and the short of it is that CMT is suing to establish who owns Jagex and whether or not the sale violated a freeze ordered by Chinese courts, and whether Fukong had the authority to order said sale. Effectively CMT believes that Jagex directors have documents proving whether or not Platinum Fortune LP has acquired Shanghai Fukong’s shares.
If you are confused by the mess of asset managers and their holding companies, you are probably starting to understand why these corporations are set up to be as confusing as they are to the point where people don’t know who owns what. As of this point there is nothing in the lawsuit to insinuate that Jagex was involved in any alleged wrongdoing.
The case is China Minsheng Trust Co. Ltd. v. Jagex Ltd., case number BL-2020-00711.
Source: Law360.com
MMO Fallout 