OREANDA-NEWS. September 13, 2016. Fideres Capital and Boies Schiller & Flexner to assemble group of institutional investors to bring fully funded proceedings against Tesco to recover damages suffered due to its accounting mis-statement in 2014.

On 9 September, the UK Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") announced that three former Tesco executives are being charged with accounting fraud, in relation to the 2014 accounting scandal (a link to the SFO press release can be found here). The SFO investigation into Tesco Plc is ongoing.

The SFO charges provide further evidence that Tesco's senior management was aware of the accounting irregularities whose revelation, in September 2014, caused Tesco's share price to drop by more than 10 percent. This share price drop had a material impact on the value of Tesco securities held by large institutional shareholders and bondholders.

Fideres Capital and Boies Schiller & Flexner are proposing to constitute a group of institutional investors to pursue collective proceedings to recover damages suffered on their holdings of Tesco securities. Investors who held at least ?75m worth of shares and/or bonds as of 29 August 2014 will be eligible to participate in this group. The proposed proceedings are fully funded by Fideres Capital.

Natasha Harrison, the partner at Boies Schiller & Flexner who is leading the case, said: "The SFO's announcement that it is bringing criminal charges against senior Tesco executives is a strong indication that there may have been wrongful conduct.  Group litigation in the English Court will provide institutional investors with the forum to recover damages for loss suffered on their Tesco securities for any account misstatement".

Alberto Thomas, Managing Director of Fideres Capital, said: "The recent UK experience with large group litigation has shown the importance of forming small and cohesive groups of institutional investors in order to create strong alignment of interests, to ensure proceedings can be managed professionally and that the case can progress smoothly through the courts".

Fideres Capital is a specialist litigation funder focused on financial market disputes. Fideres' focus is on the protection and enforcement of investor's rights with a strong track record of assisting investors in dispute resolution cases relating to capital markets and distressed investments. The firm has acted as advisor in more than 50 cases and 10 class actions.

Boies, Schiller & Flexner is a leading international dispute resolution firm with a wealth of experience in financial and corporate disputes.  Natasha Harrison, the firm's London Managing Partner, has over close to two decades of experience of litigating creditor disputes.