Billionaire Elon Musk has said that he aims to complete his purchase of Twitter by the end of the month, but the company “will not take yes for an answer”.
In a court filing, he said that the social media platform had raised concerns about the “theoretical possibility of a future failure to obtain debt financing” to pay for the deal.
Twitter said it did not trust that the offer would come through.
Twitter sued Mr Musk in July after he tried to back out of buying the company.
The judge overseeing the case gave the two sides until 28 October to work out a deal, agreeing to put legal proceedings on hold at the request of Mr Musk.
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Elon Musk: Twitter deals with surprise U-turns
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Elon Musk gave another reason not to deal with Twitter
Mr Musk said litigation was no longer necessary, after he said in a surprise move this week that he was prepared to go ahead with the original takeover plan, pending receipt of the financing and an end to the legal battle.
“There is no need for an expedited trial to order the defendants to do what they are already doing,” Mr Musk’s attorneys wrote in a filing.
“Yet, Twitter will not take yes for an answer. Astonishingly, they have insisted on proceeding with this litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and gambling with their stockholders’ interests.”
In its own filing for the Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday, Twitter said it was opposed to suspending the litigation, calling such a move “an invitation to further mischief and delay.”
It said it didn’t trust Mr Musk’s promises, noting that one bank helping to finance the deal had testified this week that it had not received any notice from Mr Musk about plans to move forward.
“Defendants can and should close next week,” wrote the company. “Until the defendants commit to closing as required, Twitter is entitled to its day in court.”
Mr Musk announced a plan to buy Twitter for $ 54.20 per share in April. But he backed away from the deal just a few weeks later saying that he was concerned that spam accounts on the platform were higher than Twitter had claimed.
Twitter eventually sued to force Mr Musk to complete the deal.
In its lawsuit, Twitter argued that Mr. Musk was worried about the price he had agreed to pay, after a sharp downturn in the value of tech shares, including Tesla, the electric car company he leads and is the base of much of his wealth.
Mr Musk was due to be questioned this week as part of the preparation for the trial, which was scheduled to begin on 17 October. The trial is now postponed to 28 October to allow a deal to be closed, according to a court filing.
Shares in Twitter ended the day down more than 3%, amid investor doubts that the deal will go through.
