By Nadia Damouni, Paul Sandle and Casey Sullivan
(Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co HPQ.N and attorneys representing shareholders have agreed to settle litigation over its troubled $11.1 billion acquisition of British software company Autonomy Corp, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
Under the terms of the settlement, involving three lawsuits, the attorneys for the shareholders have agreed to drop all claims against HP’s current and former executives, including CEO Meg Whitman, board members and advisers to the company, the source said.
The exception to that will be former officials at Autonomy. As part of the agreement, the shareholders' attorneys will assist HP in pursuing claims against Autonomy's co-founder and former CEO Michael Lynch, its former chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain, and potentially others related to Autonomy, the source said. The precise nature of such claims and when HP might file them could not be learned.
The settlement, which followed mediation, is expected to be announced as soon as Monday. The source said it is likely to be signed before Monday.
HP took an $8.8 billion impairment charge in November 2012 for its purchase of Autonomy only just over a year earlier, with more than $5 billion of that linked to what HP said at the time were "serious accounting improprieties, misrepresentation and disclosure failures."
The size of the loss, and the speed with which it occurred, marks the deal as one of the most disastrous done by a major company in recent years.
In particular, sources close to an HP investigation into the matter say that the technology giant believes that Autonomy’s results and prospects were made to look much better than they were.
Lynch, has consistently denied HP’s allegations, saying HP is blaming him for its own failure to manage Autonomy after the acquisition.
A spokesman for Lynch said that "we continue to reject HP's allegations." He said it appears that Whitman will be using a large sum of HP’s money to avoid explaining in court why she made the November 2012 allegations regarding Autonomy. "We hope this matter will now move beyond a smear campaign based on selective disclosure and HP will finally give a full explanation,” the Lynch spokesman added.
Hussain has not responded to calls and emails. His lawyer, John Keker, a founding partner of Keker & Van Nest LLP in San Francisco, did not respond to requests for comment.
SHARED RESULTS OF PROBE
Shareholders had sued HP board members and executives, accusing them of breaching their fiduciary duties and wasting corporate assets. The lawsuits sought corporate governance changes at HP, attorneys’ fees, and the ability to pursue damages claims against those responsible for the acquisition.