By Shira Ovide And Lisa Fleisher
Hewlett-Packard Co. said it has filed suit in London against two
former senior officials of Autonomy, the U.K. software firm that
H-P purchased and then accused of misrepresenting its financial
condition.
The Silicon Valley computing giant said the suit seeks $5.1
billion in damages from Michael Lynch, Autonomy's former chief
executive, and Sushovan Hussain, its former financial chief.
An H-P spokeswoman Tuesday said it could confirm that a claim
form was filed against the two men on Monday, "alleging they
engaged in fraudulent activities while executives at Autonomy." She
said the company declined to say more "until the proceedings have
been served on the defendants."
Mr. Lynch has consistently denied wrongdoing. A spokesman for
the former Autonomy executives cited H-P's "false and negligent
statements," stating that they would file their own claims against
the company for "loss and damage."
Court records in London show H-P filed a claim Monday against
Mr. Lynch and Mr. Hussein. The court declined to make the full
filing available, and details weren't immediately available on the
claims H-P is making.
H-P's $11.1 billion acquisition of Autonomy was controversial
from the moment the deal went public. At the time, shareholders
said it was a pricey splurge for H-P.
Then a year after the acquisition, H-P took an $8.8 billion
write-down for the deal and said H-P was duped into overpaying for
Autonomy because of what it said were apparently willfully inflated
financial statements at the U.K. software firm.
The U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office investigated the matter for
nearly two years, but said in January it was closing the probe
because it didn't have sufficient evidence for a "realistic
prospect of conviction." The agency said it had ceded jurisdiction
in other aspects of the probe to U.S. agencies, saying that their
investigation is ongoing.
Write to Shira Ovide at shira.ovide@wsj.com and Lisa Fleisher at
lisa.fleisher@wsj.com
Access Investor Kit for Hewlett-Packard Co.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US4282361033
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires