Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, owner of the London Metal Exchange, has vowed to fight a fresh legal challenge over its warehouses, this time related to the impact long queues have had on zinc prices.
US-based Duncan Galvanizing Corp filed a lawsuit in New York on Friday alleging that the LME – along with metals warehouse operators such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan – has engaged anti-competitive behaviour that has distorted the price of zinc, a metal used to coat steel.
HKEx, which bought the LME in 2012 for $2.2bn, described the lawsuit as “without merit” and promised to “contest it vigorously”, in a statement posted on its website on Monday. Shares in the company were up 0.5 per cent at HK$141 in early afternoon trading.