Unilever has settled its £130 million sterling High Court negligence claim against Merrill Lynch Investment Management.
Mr Kenneth Maclean, counsel for the Unilever Superannuation Fund which brought the action, told the judge: "I'm happy to tell you the parties have agreed terms for the disposal of the claims in this matter."
He handed up an agreed order which took the judge 15 seconds to sign, thus ending the 28-day case and years of bitter wrangling.
Unilever was suing Merrill - formerly Mercury Asset Management - for allegedly mismanaging a £1.1 billion fund.
Much of the poor performance was generated by a £600 million UK equity portfolio based on bold investment judgments by a Mercury fund manager, Mr Alistair Lennard.
Reports suggest Merrill is offering as much as £70 million in settlement of the case.
A joint statement said simply that Merrill had agreed to pay a sum to Unilever "without admission of liability", but gave no further details on the cash involved, or the cost of the case, which is estimated to be as much as £5 million.
PA