From vicars to City titans: Goldman Sachs, Shell and Barclays among names behind £550m Lloyds legal battle | City A.M.
Today City A.M. reveals the varied and surprising names behind a massive £550m legal battle with Lloyds over its takeover of HBOS at the height of the financial crisis – and the cast includes major institutions, aristocrats, vicars and politicians.
The groups, which includes institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Nomura Asset Management and pension funds for BT, BP and Barclays Bank, are joined by thousands of individual investors who claim Lloyds misled them by not disclosing emergency funding to HBOS before the two banks merged in 2008.
See below for a list of the most notable British and international firms who have joined the action.
The decade-long feud has culminated in a massive legal action against Lloyds Banking Group and five former directors, with claimants represented by law firm Harcus Sinclair ranging from the massive pension funds of blue-chip companies like Rolls-Royce to a colourful array of individuals from Britain’s shareholder class – including Theresa May’s chief of staff.
Read more: Lawyer in Lloyds HBOS investor action asks judge to send “firm message”
Some of the world’s most important banks are named in a register of investors seen by City A.M., including Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. Barclays Bank is named twice, in its separate roles as pension fund and trust company.
Many of the firms are listed in their capacity as trustees for other parties, meaning they may not have made a direct decision to target Lloyds. British banks – and direct Lloyds rivals – HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland’s National Westminster (Natwest) and Clydesdale are all named as trustees, along with one Barclays company.
Pension funds spanning the City have also targeted a payout from Lloyds, representing the retirement pots of employees of FTSE 100 firms such as Shell, Associated British Foods, Taylor Wimpey, Relx Group and British Airways.
Read more: Former FSA chief denies trying to push Lloyds into HBOS merger
The legal action even reaches right into Downing Street, with Theresa May’s chief of staff named in the register: Gavin Barwell, the MP for Croydon Central until last year’s General Election, was one of the trustees of the Whitgift Foundation Fund, a London-based charity which has joined the action. At the time the action was formally started the government still held a significant stake in Lloyds, which was bailed out after the bank almost collapsed.
Meanwhile, the list of individual claimants gives a fascinating insight into the broad array of British shareholders, from retail shareholders the length and breadth of the country to former employees of Lloyds given stock options. Over 100 doctors, two QCs, six knights, eight ladies, a canon and 10 reverends, two colonels and a lieutenant commander all form part of the list of 6,296 investors who hail from as far afield as Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.
The case continues, with a judgement due within three months from Mr Justice Nugee – although City A.M. understands the massive complexity of the case may delay the judgement significantly.
The action against Lloyds heard weeks of evidence from shareholders, expert witnesses, and former directors including ex-chair Sir Victor Blank, chief executive Eric Daniels, and the City’s top former watchdog, Sir Hector Sants.
The case is one of a new breed of British legal action, the group litigation order (GLO), which allows a large number of individuals with similar claims to sign up to a case in a similar manner to US class actions. It has been funded by litigation funders Therium.
Read more: HBOS emergency funding disclosure not needed in Lloyds deal, court hears
Banks
Arbuthnot Latham (Nominees) Ltd
Ameritrust Corporation
Bank of America NA as trustee of the Bank of America Pension Plan
Bankers Trust Company
Barclays Bank Trust Company
Barclays Pension Funds Trustees Limited as trustee of the Barclays Bank UK Retirement Fund and Russell Investment Company
BNY Mellon Trust and Depositary (UK) Ltd and Smith and Williamson Fund Administration Ltd
Citigroup Global Markets Inc
Clydesdale Bank suing as executor for other parties
HSBC Bank PLC as trustee for the COIF Charities Global Equity Income Fund
National Westminster Bank and Smith and Williamson as trustees for other parties
Northern Trust Investments
Standard Bank Jersey
State Street Trust and Banking Co.
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation as trustee for other parties
US Bank NA
Wells Fargo Bank, NA Trustee
WH Ireland Ltd
British pension funds
Associated British Foods Pension Trustees Ltd
BP Pension Trustees as the trustee of the BP Pension Fund
British Airways Pension Trustees Ltd
BT Pension Scheme Trustees Ltd as the trustee of the BT Pension Scheme
CAAPS Trustee Ltd as trustee of the Civil Aviation Authority Pension Scheme
Capita Trustees Ltd
Cumbria County Council
Hallmark Cards, Incorporated Master Trust
IBM Nederland
Jaguar Land Rover Pension Trustees
John Deere Pension Trust
Lincolnshire County Council
National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society Ltd
Northern Trust Fiduciary Services as trustee of the IBM Diversified Global Equity Fund
Reed Elsevier Pension Trustee Ltd as trustee of the Reed Elsevier Pension Scheme
Rolls Royce Pension Fund Trustees as trustees of the Rolls-Royce Pension Fund
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Council
Shell Pension Trust
Taylor Wimpey Pension Trustees
The Corporation of Lloyds
The London Borough of Havering
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Wellcome Trust
Westminster City Council
Xafinity Pension Trustees Ltd
Investment managers
Boston Financial Management
Cannaccord Nominees Ltd
DNB Asset Management
Fidelity Management Trust Company as trustee of the Verizon Master Savings Trust
GAM International Management Ltd
Goldman Sachs International Equity Dividend and Premium Fund
Investec Wealth and Investment Ltd
Liontrust Global Income Fund
Nomura Asset Management
Rathbones Nominees Ltd
Sanlam Universal Funds
Schwab Capital Trust
Silvercrest Asset Management
Smith and Williamson Nominees Ltd on behalf of…
North American pension funds
Caisse de depot et placement de Quebec
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
OMERS Admin Corp
Ontario Pension Board
Southern Baptists Foundation
State of Connecticut as trustee for Connecticut Retirement Plans
Teachers Retirement Scheme, Illinois
The Kaiser Permanente Group Trust
The Regents of the University of California
Utah State Retirement Systems
Verizon Investment Management Corp directing BNY Mellon, trustees of the Bell Atlantic Master Trust