LONDON (Reuters) -Hedge fund Altana Wealth misused a rival’s confidential information and trade secrets to set up its own fund to invest in Venezuelan debt, London’s High Court ruled on Thursday.
London-based firm IlliquidX sued Altana in 2020, shortly after Altana set up the Altana Credit Opportunities Fund (ACOF), which is focused on Venezuelan distressed debt.
IlliquidX accused Altana of breaching a 2019 non-disclosure agreement signed when the firms briefly tried to set up a fund, at which time IlliquidX says it provided confidential information about credit opportunities in the South American country.
Altana and its founder and chief investment officer Lee Robinson said the lawsuit was baseless, arguing there was no confidential information which they could be proven to have used which was not already known to them or in the public domain.
But Eason Rajah ruled that Altana had breached the non-disclosure agreement and misused IlliquidX’s “confidential information and trade secrets” in setting up and operating the fund.
He dismissed IlliquidX’s claim for copyright infringement in relation to a slide presentation Altana used to market its fund.
Rajah said in his ruling that Robinson had not acted “wilfully and knowingly in the misuse of confidential information”.
A spokesperson for Altana welcomed that aspect of the ruling, but added that it disagreed with “the court’s findings as to misuse of alleged confidential information of IlliquidX by Altana” and will be seeking permission to appeal.
IlliquidX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Sam TobinEditing by Christina Fincher and Ros Russell)
