By Yantoultra Ngui

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--Malaysian casino operator Genting Malaysia Bhd. (4715.KU) said it filed legal proceedings in the U.S. against Fox Entertainment Group, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., 21st Century Fox Inc. (FOXA) and The Walt Disney Co. (DIS).

Genting Malaysia said the legal proceedings are in response to a notice issued by Fox in which it terminated a memorandum of agreement from 2013 and claimed about $46.2 million in accelerated payments.

The agreement entails the granting of Genting Malaysia the license to build a Twentieth Century Fox World theme park at its casino resort situated outside of Kuala Lumpur.

Genting Malaysia said it denied that Fox and the other parties had grounds to terminate the agreement. It said it pursued a cause of action for breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, among others.

It has also pursued a cause of action against Disney and 21st Century Fox for inducing a breach of contract and for interference the with contract, according to the filing.

Genting Malaysia said it intends to fully enforce its rights under the agreement and claim for the cost of its investments and consequential and punitive damages that in total will exceed $1 billion.

It added that the litigation isn't expected to impact Genting Malaysia's current business operations.

"This lawsuit is entirely without merit," a Twentieth Century Fox Film spokesman said on Wednesday. "As the complaint itself makes clear, Genting has been failing to meet the agreed-on deadlines for several years, long before the 21st Century Fox-Disney agreement."

The spokesman added that the allegation that Disney, rather than Twentieth Century Fox Film, finally decided to declare a default was simply made up.

"We look forward to presenting all the facts in the appropriate forum," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, a Disney spokesman said "the claims made against Disney in this matter are utterly without merit."

Write to Yantoultra Ngui at yantoultra.ngui@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 27, 2018 20:05 ET (01:05 GMT)

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