The aftermath of "lunni's epic air pressure" has not stopped. On Monday, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) said in an announcement that the London Metal Exchange (LME) and LME clear Limited of the company were sued by Elliott associates, L.P. and Elliott international, L.P., and claimed US $456million.
At present, the lawsuit has been submitted to the British High Court on June 1, and served on LME and LME clear on June 2.
At the beginning of March this year, LME nickel trading staged an epic short selling market, which soared by more than 250% in two days, and the price once climbed to a record $101365 / ton. Subsequently, LME announced the suspension of nickel trading on March 8, and determined that all transactions after 0:00 on March 8 were invalid.
According to the announcement, Elliott, as the plaintiff, claimed that the decision was illegal under public law and / or constituted a violation of the plaintiff's human rights.
Elliott associates and Elliott international are hedge funds under Elliott management. Elliott was founded in 1977 by Paul singer, a well-known hedge fund manager in the United States. As of December 31, 2021, Elliott managed about $51.5 billion in assets.
The HKEx said in the announcement that LME cancelled the transaction retroactively in order to let the market return to the last time when LME can be sure that the market is operating orderly. HKEx said that the management of LME believed that the lawsuit was "without legal basis" and LME would "actively defend".
LME's handling method in the lunni storm was controversial, which also attracted regulatory attention.
Wall Street has previously mentioned that on April 4, the financial conduct authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) of the Bank of England issued a joint statement, planning to review the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the London Clearing House (LCH) to explore what lessons these two institutions can learn in governance, market supervision and risk management.