PLDT Inc. (PLDT) announced on Thursday that a US court had granted final approval to a case-ending settlement of securities class action litigation commenced by certain investors. In a stock exchange filing, PLDT said that the US District Court for the Central District of California had approved the offer to settle the case, filed in 2023 by several investors in PLDT's American Depositary Shares (ADS), following the telco's admission of a capital expenditures (capex) overrun. The investors alleged that PLDT "made materially false and misleading statements regarding its capital expenditures and internal controls [among other matters] at various times between 2019 and 2022." They further claimed that the telco had delayed disclosing a P48-billion capex overrun that triggered the biggest drop in ADS price in 35 years. Just before 2022 ended, PLDT announced that it had discovered a spending discrepancy that accounted for about 12.7 percent of its P379-billion capex in the four years since 2019. In Thursday's disclosure, the telco said that it entered into a Stipulation of Settlement on February 16 to resolve the US class action in its entirety against all defendants for $3 million. "The settlement contains no admission of liability, fault or wrongdoing by any defendant," it added. "The judgment and order of the court entered on September 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." PLDT shares were unchanged at P1,438 each on Thursday amid a 0.65-percent rise for the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index. At the New York Stock Exchange, PLDT Inc.'s American depositary receipts were up $1.30, or 4.95 percent, at $27.56 in after-hours trading overnight. Read The Rest at :