HP to pay $100m to settle legal action over Autonomy bid

Shareholders claimed they lost money in the botched takeover

Hewlett-Packard has agreed to pay $100 million out of insurance proceeds to settle a lawsuit filed by shareholders who claimed they lost money in the botched takeover of Autonomy.

The money will be used to compensate those who bought Hewlett-Packard shares from August 19th, 2011, to November 20th, 2012, the company said in a statement.

The $10.3 billion takeover of Autonomy in 2011 led to an $8.8 billion writedown in 2012 over alleged accounting improprieties at the UK software maker and spawned a series of lawsuits.

The shareholder agreement, subject to approval by a federal judge in San Francisco, was reached after negotiations with lead plaintiff PGGM Vermogensbeheer BV, in part to avoid "burdensome and protracted" litigation, HP said. "Due diligence is really at the heart of the case here. That's where it all went completely wrong," Femke Hendriks, counsel at PGGM, said in a phone interview. "We welcome everything that'll lead to an improvement in governance, risk management and due diligence processes."

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