The estate of Dr Mike Lynch, the former owner and CEO of British software company Autonomy, must pay £697.8m to compensate Hewlett-Packard (HP) over the sale of the business following a dispute about the valuation of the company heard at the High Court in London.

The High Court has ruled that Autonomy’s true financial position and performance had not been properly and accurately disclosed in its published information and in its negotiations with HP at the time of the sale of the business.

In addition the judge said that ‘had it been so, HP would not have proceeded with its acquisition of Autonomy at the bid price’.

On the decision to make the acquisition, Judge Mr Justice Hildyard stated: ‘The foundation of HP’s assessment and ultimate decision was the description of Autonomy’s historical revenue performance, organic software revenue growth and the description of its business and five revenue streams put forward in Autonomy’s published information.’

HP subs