Asian casino operator Genting Malaysia Berhad has reportedly announced that it has reached a settlement that has ‘fully resolved’ the $1 billion lawsuit it filed against The Walt Disney Company late last year.

Park progress:

According to a Friday report from GGRAsia, the Kuala Lumpur-listed firm used an official filing to detail that the resolution means that it can now proceed with plans to bring a theme park to its sprawling Resorts World Genting integrated casino resort although the attraction will now not be christened as the 20th Century Fox World Theme Park.

California conflict:

GGRAsia reported that the lawsuit had also named Disney’s recently-acquired Twenty First Century Fox Incorporated as well as its Fox Entertainment Group LLC, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and FoxNext LLC subsidiaries as defendants. The action was purportedly filed with the United States District Court for the Central District of California in November amid allegations that the American entertainments giant had pulled the plug on a 2013 licensing deal that was to have seen the parties cooperate in order to build the coming theme park at Resorts World Genting.

Name change:

In its latest filing, Genting Malaysia Berhad reportedly declared that it is ‘currently updating its development and construction plans to complete the outdoor theme park’ for the venue in Malaysia but that the attraction will now utilize ‘Fox and non-Fox intellectual properties’ and ‘shall also be renamed’.

Reportedly read the filing from Genting Malaysia Berhad…

“As part of the settlement terms, the parties have entered into a re-stated memorandum of agreement dated July 25 granting Genting Malaysia Berhad a license to use certain Fox intellectual properties.”

Investor optimism:

Samuel Yin Shao Yang, an analyst with Maybank IB Research, reportedly told GGRAsia yesterday that he anticipates the new theme park opening as soon as the first quarter of next year and that investors are viewing the settlement as a positive development despite the fact that ‘details are lacking at this point in time’.

Yin reportedly told GGRAsia…

“We gather all eyes will be on the second-quarter 2019 results conference call scheduled for August 29 for more details on this development.”