Hewlett Packard is owed more than 700 million pounds from the estate of Mike Lynch and his former business partner, according to a ruling by London’s High Court on Tuesday.
The case relates to HP’s 2011 acquisition of the British software firm Autonomy.
The court said HP is owed nearly 698 million pounds based on the difference between what it paid for Autonomy and what it would have paid had it known the company’s actual financial condition. HP is also entitled to an additional $47.5 million for losses related to hardware sales and other transactions by Autonomy group companies.
HP sued Lynch and Autonomy’s former chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, in 2015. It accused them of inflating Autonomy’s value ahead of the $11.1 billion acquisition. The deal led to a $5 billion lawsuit after HP wrote down Autonomy’s value by $8.8 billion less than a year later.
The High Court had ruled in HP’s favor in 2022, but said the amount would be less than $5 billion. Tuesday’s ruling confirms the specific damages.
Lynch, who died last year in a yacht accident off Sicily, had denied the accusations. He said HP mismanaged the acquisition and had planned to appeal the 2022 ruling. A spokesperson for his family shared a statement he prepared before his death, calling HP’s claim a “wild overstatement.”
A further hearing is scheduled for November to decide whether any appeals will be allowed and how damages will be split between Lynch’s estate and Hussain. HP reached a settlement with Hussain earlier this year.
Judge Robert Hildyard said HP would have paid 23 pounds per share for Autonomy if it had full financial information, instead of the 25.50 pounds per share it actually paid. He added that the value of HP’s claim had been “substantially exaggerated.”
