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A hot potato: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) says it intends to continue its claim for up to $4 billion in damages against the estate of tech mogul Mike Lynch, who recently died when his yacht was caught in a storm and sank off the coast of Sicily.
HP, as it still was back then, paid $11.7 billion to acquire Lynch's Autonomy software company back in 2011. A year later, HP announced it was writing down the deal's value by $8.8 billion, alleging that Autonomy had misrepresented its own value. HP said it intended to file criminal and civil charges where appropriate to "seek redress for HP shareholders."
Lynch was cleared in a criminal fraud trial over the deal in the US in June. However, HPE – HP split into HP Inc. and HPE in 2015 – won a civil claim against Lynch in the English high court in 2022 that accused him and former finance director Sushovan Hussain of fraud.
Mike Lynch
A ruling on damages for the civil trial is expected soon. The presiding judge says he expects them to be "substantially less" than the $4 billion HPE lawyers say the company is entitled to as a result of losses stemming from the deal.
Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were among the seven people who died when his wife Angela Bacares' Bayesian superyacht ran into a storm last month. The passengers were celebrating Lynch's acquittal in the US criminal trial. Bacares was rescued along with 15 others.
Some expected that HPE would drop its compensation claim in light of what happened, but the company has confirmed it is still pursuing the matter. "In 2022, an English high court judge ruled that HPE had substantially succeeded in its civil fraud claims against Dr Lynch and Mr Hussain," HPE said. "A damages hearing was held in February 2024 and the judge's decision regarding damages due to HPE will arrive in due course. It is HPE's intention to follow the proceedings through to their conclusion."
While HPE has a duty to act in its shareholders' best interests, suing one of the survivors of a tragedy that saw her lose her husband and child isn't going to be a good look for the firm.
Lynch reportedly made around $800 million from the Autonomy deal. According to the Sunday Times rich list, Lynch and Bacares' combined wealth was £500 million ($656.49 million) at the time of his death.
It's believed that the sinking of the yacht was due to human error. Prosecutors in Sicily have widened their investigation into the incident, and several crew members, including the captain, are being investigated.