PLDT Inc. said Thursday a United States court approved its settlement of a class-action lawsuit alleging the company overstated its capital expenditures by about P48 billion between 2019 and 2022.
PLDT said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange that on Sept. 17, 2024, a US court granted final approval to its case-ending settlement of securities class action litigation commenced in 2023 against the company and certain current and former directors and officers by certain investors in PLDT’s American depositary shares.
“The investors alleged that defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding PLDT’s capital expenditures and internal controls (among other matters) at various times between 2019 and 2022,” PLDT said.
The company on Feb. 16, 2024, signed a stipulation of settlement to resolve the US class action in its entirety as against all defendants for a payment of $3 million.
“The settlement contains no admission of liability, fault or wrongdoing by any defendant,” PLDT said.
“The judgment and order of the court entered on Sept. 17, 2024 provides that the court will retain jurisdiction over [among other matters] implementation of the settlement and the distribution and disposition of the settlement fund,” it said.
Records showed that on April 7, 2023, Sophia Olsson, who claims to have owned two PLDT shares and allegedly suffered $22.69 in losses and Kevin Douglas, who claims to have owned 35 PLDT shares during the class period and allegedly lost $240.23 in the aftermath of the disclosure of the “budget overrun”, filed separate motions before the court.
The complainants filed the lawsuit for allegedly violating Federal Securities Laws.
