HP pays $100 million to settle shareholder class-action suit

[June 09, 2015] AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch pension fund manager PGGM said on Tuesday Hewlett-Packard had agreed to pay $100 million to settle a class-auction lawsuit relating to the company's 2011 acquisition of Autonomy, a "big data" analysis company.

PGGM alleged that HP made "false and misleading" statements about Autonomy's value and the reasons for its "poor performance" after HP's $11 billion acquisition of the company. A subsequent $8.8 billion write-down that resulted after Autonomy's "accounting improprieties and over-valuation" were revealed caused HP's stock price to plummet, PGGM said, "damaging HP shareholders severely". PGGM was the lead plaintiff in the class action suit, which was brought in 2012. The cash payment will be paid into a settlement fund to compensate affected shareholders. "While HP believes the action has no merit, it is desirable and beneficial to HP and its shareholders to resolve (to) settle the case as further litigation would be burdensome and protracted," HP said in a statement. (Reporting by Thomas Escritt; editing by Jason Neely) [© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.