Elliott Investment Management sues London Metal Exchange over nickel trades, alleging UK competition law breaches

Elliott Investment Management has filed a fresh lawsuit against the London Metal Exchange, this time alleging that the exchange’s chaotic handling of the 2022 nickel crisis violated UK competition rules. The claim, brought through affiliates Elliott Associates L.P. and Elliott International L.P., also names the LME’s parent company, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), as a defendant. The nickel crisis, briefly explained On March 8, 2022, the nickel market went completely haywire. Prices surged from roughly $30,000 per metric ton to over $100,000 in a matter of hours, driven by a massive short squeeze. The LME responded by suspending trading and then cancelling all trades executed that morning. The annulled transactions totaled approximately $12 billion in notional value. For firms like Elliott that had been on the winning side of those trades, the cancellation effectively erased enormous profits. Elliott originally sought around $456 million in damages through a judicial review filed in June 2022, arguing the LME had no right to wipe the slate clean. Why the first lawsuit failed Elliott’s initial legal strategy ran into a wall, repeatedly. The UK High Court ruled in November 2...