Hong Kong-based bidder in soured Forbes deal hits back at original owners

The Hong Kong-based investment group behind last year’s purchase of Forbes media empire has asked a US court to throw out a lawsuit against them saying the allegations are without merit.

Integrated Whale Media Investment (IWM), based at 9 Queens Road, Central, was accused in late October of failing to meet the terms of the deal, as well as withholding income streams owed to the founding Forbes family.

The original claim was filed in the Delaware courts by a company belonging to the Forbes family called Highlander Management.

IWM has now fired back at the original owners of the eponymous magazine group saying the allegations made are “materially false” and “irrelevant” and should be dismissed, in part, because of a near-identical case filed by Highlander that is already under way in the British Virgin Islands court.

READ MORE: Row over Hong Kong-based investment group’s purchase of Forbes goes to court

The Delaware lawsuit “is completely without merit” a IWM spokesperson told the South China Morning Post, saying that the dispute “is solely between shareholders at the holding company level...(and) does not and will not have any impact on Forbes Media’s day-to-day operations and future growth”.