USP unit to get US$1m in civil suit settlement

MAINBOARD-LISTED USP Group announced on Tuesday that it has reached a civil suit settlement which will see Scientific & Industrial Instrumentation - a company owned by its subsidiary Supratechnic Pte Ltd - receive US$1 million in exchange for the sale of its 40 per cent stake in MSV Systems & Services to MSV's founder, Tan Teck Huat.

The agreement was struck on Oct 23 and the transaction was completed on Nov 10, the group said in a filing with the bourse.

USP, which was listed on the Singapore Exchange mainboard in 2007 as Unionmet (Singapore) Limited, said that this brings closure to a legal suit that started prior to USP's acquisition of Supratechnic in March 2016.

With the settlement, a counter-claim by Mr Tan made against Joshua Huang - a USP shareholder and a party to the suit - was also discontinued.

The group said that cash will have a positive impact on its fiscal 2018 financials.

Li Hua, executive chairman and chief executive officer of USP, said: "I am relieved that this civil suit has come to an amicable settlement. We can now better focus our attention on expanding the business of Supratechnic, which is gaining very good traction."