US tech giant HPE is targeting the assets of Mike Lynch's widow in a £900million damages hunt.

The entrepreneur, known as 'Britain's Bill Gates', died in the Bayesian superyacht tragedy in Sicily in 2024 alongside his teenage daughter Hannah and five others. 

His widow, Angela Bacares, 58, who survived the disaster, has her own assets that are legally separate from her late husband's.

The Lynch estate had been embroiled in a lengthy legal battle with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) after it accused him in 2012 of inflating his firm Autonomy's value before the acquisition.

In 2022, a judge ruled Mr Lynch and Sushovan Hussain, his chief financial officer, had defrauded HPE over the US tech giant's $11.7billion (£8.6bn) acquisition of Autonomy.

Last year the judge awarded HPE £700m in damages but the company has claimed interest on this figure, increasing the amount owed to £920m.

Now the tech company is circling to probe Ms Bacares's assets in a bid to claim back the hefty sum of damages. 

HPE submitted a request to the High Court on Wednesday to appoint administrators over the late tycoon's estate, who would handle the holdings and look into previous transactions.

It was suggested that administrators selected by the tech giant would investigate the assets of Mr Lynch's family, including those of Ms Bacares.

Joseph Curl KC, a barrister for HPE, told the court: 'As night follows day, that is going to include investigating people, not just Ms Bacares, but including Ms Bacares.' 

The court ruling handing HPE £920m in damages threatens to bankrupt the tech boss's estate which is believed to amount to around £330m.

HPE lawyers insisted it would be necessary to check whether Mr Lynch had 'taken steps to preserve assets to render themselves judgment proof' amid vast legal claims. 

In the case of a bankrupt estate, an administrator can seek to have transactions reversed to repay creditors if they were found to have been made at an undervalue or in preference to the beneficiary.

Restructuring firm Interpath Advisory is believed to be HPE's first choice to handle the estate, with Ms Bacares set to appoint Jeremy Sandleson, a former partner at Clifford Chance, who has long represented the family.

But HPE lawyers have argued Mr Sandleson had a 'fundamental and irreconcilable' conflict of interest thanks to his ties to the family.

Ms Bacares's team struck back by claiming the estate could be handled 'most delicately and effectively by Mr Sandleson'. 

In turn, lawyers for Mr Sandleson disputed whether he could be viewed as a friend of Ms Bacares and insisted he was willing to accept the appointment himself or in a joint role alongside Interpath.

Mr Lynch's estate yesterday launched a Court of Appeal bid to challenge the damages ruling, Mr Sandleson confirmed.

At a hearing on Wednesday, lawyers for HPE asked a judge to approve the appointment of two administrators, David Standish and Michael Leeds, to 'manage and preserve' Mr Lynch's estate's assets pending an appeal.

In written submissions, Joseph Curl KC, for HPE, said Mr Justice Hildyard's ruling meant that Mr Lynch's estate was 'insolvent to a significant degree', which could only change if the estate's Court of Appeal challenge is successful.

Mr Lynch's estate had sought to challenge the original 2022 decision, and also asked for permission to appeal against the 2025 ruling on the amount of damages and interest. 

'HPE is pleased with the court's ruling and its rejection of the estate's request for permission to appeal, which brings us another step closer to resolution of the dispute,' a spokesman previously said.

HPE first sued Mr Lynch for around $5bn (£3.79bn) following its purchase of Cambridge-based Autonomy in 2011.

The company claimed at a 2019 trial - then believed to be the UK's biggest civil fraud trial - that Mr Lynch inflated Autonomy's revenues and 'committed a deliberate fraud'.

It said this forced it to announce an $8.8bn (£6.5bn) write-down of the firm's worth just over a year after the acquisition. 

In a 2022 ruling, Mr Justice Hildyard said the American firm had 'substantially succeeded' in its claim, but that it was likely to receive 'substantially less' than the amount it claimed in damages.

He said that Autonomy, founded by Mr Lynch, had not accurately portrayed its financial position during the purchase, but even if it had, HPE would still have bought the Cambridge-based company, but at a reduced price.

In written submissions for the hearing in November, Patrick Goodall KC, for HPE, said Mr Lynch had 'not only perpetrated an enormous fraud, but lied about it at every stage'.

He argued an appeal aimed at 'escaping the consequences of that fraud' should not be allowed to be pursued.

Richard Hill KC, for Mr Lynch's estate, said the $761m (£578m) in interest sought by the claimants was an 'excessive sum ... based on a flawed analysis'.

Mr Hill also said Mr Lynch's estate should be allowed to appeal against the two earlier rulings, claiming that the judge 'erred in law'.

In his written submissions he said that there was a 'compelling reason for allowing the appeal to be heard'.

A spokesperson for the Lynch family said in a statement: 'We are disappointed by the Court's refusal and believe an application to the Court of Appeal should follow in the interests of justice. HP's $5bn damages claim has already been shown to be vastly exaggerated.

'Today's judgment describes the exaggeration as "without foundation" and the purposes for which it was "calibrated, publicised and pursued" as objectionable, misleading shareholders and extending the litigation unnecessarily.'

They added: 'Dr Lynch's acquittal in the US, where witnesses were properly cross-examined, exposed the truth. The damage to Autonomy was the result of HP's own actions and failures, not wrongdoing at Autonomy.'

It comes after it emerged the builder of the Bayesian superyacht which sank in 2024 is suing Ms Bacares for £400m, claiming the company lost sales after the disaster.

The Italian Sea Group (TISG) blamed the crew and Bayesian's holding company for the boat's demise and have claimed that company has lost millions of euros in sales as a result of the tragedy. 

TISG's majority owner, Giovanni Costantino, an Italian yachting millionaire, claimed that the crew’s incompetence and negligence led the boat to capsize and sink, insisting that the yacht was 'unsinkable'.

He has alleged doors and portholes were not secured and weather warnings were ignored despite being widely publicised.

Mr Costantino also said the fact that the yacht took 16 minutes to sink meant there was ample time for the passengers and crew to be saved.

His company has now filed a lawsuit in the town of Termini Imerese on the northern coast of Sicily, claiming that the company has lost millions by being blamed for the disaster.

A source close to the family told the Daily Mail: 'This claim is as cynical as it is predictable. The UK investigation has raised serious, unresolved questions about the yacht’s design, stability and operating characteristics, including vulnerabilities unknown to the owner and crew.

'This action appears designed to distract from those issues, but it will not prevent proper scrutiny of how the vessel was designed, approved and built. It is desperate, opportunistic and in bad faith.'

The lawsuit has been filed against Revtom, the Isle of Man entity which owned the yacht and which is now owned by Angela Bacares, following her husband's death.

It has also been filed against the boat's skipper James Cutfield and two crew members Timothy Eaton and Matthew Griffiths.