Greencool accepts $300,000 to drop defamation suit
UBS Warburg and one of its analysts, Joe Zhang Huaqiao, have agreed to pay HK$300,000 to end defamation proceedings by Greencool Technology Holdings.
The Growth Enterprise Market-listed refrigerant distributor Greencool Technology last night said it and chairman Gu Chujun had accepted the cash payment by UBS and Mr Zhang in exchange for a halt to the proceedings.
The payment was made to the court on July 11 and accepted yesterday by Greencool. But the acceptance came with the condition that Greencool Technology and Mr Gu be entitled to recover legal costs from UBS and Mr Zhang.
Last January, Greencool Technology filed a lawsuit in the High Court against Mr Zhang and the Asian branch of the European brokerage, alleging they had libelled Greencool and Mr Gu in an e-mail and a newsletter.
The libel allegation was related to Greencool's claims about the effectiveness and composition of its refrigerants.
The lawsuit sought aggravated damages, court costs and an injunction to restrain UBS and Mr Zhang from publishing the same or similar allegedly defamatory words about Greencool Technology and Mr Gu.
UBS last night rejected a suggestion the cash payment was an admission of wrong-doing.
'While this has terminated the court proceedings, it doesn't represent an admission of liability on the part of UBS Warburg, or Joe Zhang, and was made to avoid further legal costs,' a UBS spokesman said. 'UBS Warburg maintains its opinion that Greencool's case is totally without merit.'
He declined to reveal the breakdown of the payment.
Mr Zhang, who covers many Hong Kong-listed mainland private enterprises, was unavailable for comment last night.
Greencool filed the lawsuit a little less than two months after mainland-based Caijing magazine ran a report questioning the integrity of Greencool and Mr Gu.
Although Greencool claimed that part of the report was inaccurate, it has not launched legal proceedings against the magazine, which earlier this week published another report questioning the company's figures based on the figures of its parent, Greencool Refrigerant (China).
Libel cases by listed companies against brokerage analysts are rare in Hong Kong. In March, Mr Zhang said the court case had not affected his work.
