GLOBAL – A US district judge in San Francisco has appointed PGGM as lead plaintiff in a lawsuit brought by a group of investors against Hewlett Packard (HP).

The computer company last November disclosed an $8.8bn (€6.7bn) writedown related to UK software company Autonomy, which was bought out by HP in 2011.

The software maker allegedly misrepresented its revenue and was consequently worth far less than the $10.3bn HP paid for it at the time.

The disclosure caused HP stock to plummet to the lowest value since October 2002.

The investors now seek to recoup the losses they incurred from the company.

According to the judge, PGGM should serve as lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit, as it suffered the greatest financial loss, estimated at more than $35m.

PGGM's US attorney told Bloomberg that a new consolidated complaint would be filed within 60 days.

PGGM is not the only Dutch plaintiff involved in the class action against HP.

A spokesperson at MN, the pensions manager for Dutch metalworkers, told IPE sister publication IPNederland: "We are part of the class action as well, although our financial interest in the suit is relatively small.

"If a settlement should be reached, we will file a claim commensurate with the losses we incurred."

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