HP owed over $940 million by Mike Lynch's estate, ex-business partner, UK court rules

LONDON (Reuters) -Hewlett Packard is owed more than 700 million pounds ($944 million) from the estate of the late Mike Lynch and his former business partner over its acquisition of their British software firm Autonomy, a judge at London's High Court said on Tuesday.

HP was seeking to recoup its losses from Lynch – who died last year when his luxury yacht sank off Sicily – and Autonomy's former chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain.

The U.S. technology giant sued Lynch and Hussain accusing them of masterminding an elaborate fraud to inflate the value of Autonomy, which HP bought for $11.1 billion in 2011 before the deal spectacularly unravelled.

HP wrote down Autonomy's value by $8.8 billion within a year and brought a $5 billion lawsuit against Lynch and Hussain in London, with a judge ruling in HP's favour in 2022.

Lynch, once hailed as Britain's answer to Bill Gates, had always maintained his innocence and blamed HP for failing to integrate Autonomy into the company.

He was acquitted of criminal charges over the deal in the U.S. and had intended to appeal the High Court's 2022 ruling, a process which was on hold pending Tuesday's decision on damages.

Judge Robert Hildyard ruled HP sustained losses of over 646 million pounds ($871.8 million) in relation to the difference between what HP paid for Autonomy and what HP would have paid "had Autonomy's true financial position been correctly presented".

Hilyard also said HP was entitled to another 51.7 million pounds in relation to "personal claims for deceit and/or misrepresentation against Dr Lynch and Mr Hussain", plus another $47.5 million in relation to losses suffered by group companies.

HP said at a hearing last year that it was seeking up to $4 billion. Hussain settled with HP earlier this year.

($1 = 0.7412 pounds)

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Kate Holton)