Investment firm Ventra is demanding that Lloyds hand over a set of documents as part of an £80 million ($100.6 million) lawsuit against the bank.
In 2011, Ventra went into administration, owing Lloyds approximately £94 million ($118.3 million).
The Bank of Scotland, which is owned by Lloyds, sold off the property portfolio that Ventra had used as collateral for a loan it took from the bank.
The investment firm claims that the bank then sold the properties for tens of millions of pounds less than they were worth.
Ventra also alleges that the Bank of Scotland misled it into trading in interest rate Swaps from September 2008 to February of 2009.
To expedite the process of selling Ventra’s properties after it went into administration, the Bank of Scotland hired a property business called Grainger PLC.
Grainger then helped the bank to sell off Ventra’s assets.
Got to see the emails
It is the communications between Grainger and the Bank of Scotland that Ventra wants to see. According to the investment firm, they could provide some insight as to why the properties were sold for so little.
“[We want to see] the manner [sic] of which they were sold, if they were marketed at all, and if so, on what terms,” said Ventra’s lawyer, Stephen Davies of Guildhall Chambers, according to Law360.
Davies is seeking £75 million in compensation for the allegedly mis-sold properties and another £5 million related to the interest rate swaps.
For its part, Lloyds claims that it has already given Ventra all of the documents it has, between itself and Grainger, related to the investment manager’s property sales.
The bank’s legal team has also said that, under the terms of the agreement with Grainger, Ventra had the ability to request any documents from the property manager itself and that it doesn’t need the bank to do it.
