Elliott Names HKEX, LME in New Legal Claim Over 2022 Nickel Trades

By Kimberley Kao

Elliott Investment Management has named Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing and the London Metal Exchange in a new legal claim over nickel trades that were canceled in 2022 following wild price swings.

The activist hedge-fund manager filed the claim with the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal and named HKEX and LME as defendants, LME owner HKEX said in a statement on Tuesday.

In the latest claim, Elliott alleged that LME and HKEX "infringed the prohibition on abuse of dominance" under U.K. competition law, according to HKEX's statement.

Elliott alleged that LME failed to implement appropriate systems to "prevent disorderly trading during periods of severe market stress", and didn't "identify and manage conflicts of interest", according to HKEX's statement.

"Elliott will first need to obtain permission from the Tribunal to serve the proceedings on HKEX. Any grant of permission may be subject to further challenge by HKEX," the exchange operator said.

"HKEX is of the view that the 2026 CAT Claim is without merit and will contest it vigorously," it said.

Elliott didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

In March 2022, amid volatility in the metal's price, the LME suspended trading in the metal for more than a week and cancelled billions of dollars in trades. Elliott was among the firms that unsuccessfully sued the LME over the cancellations.

A price rally sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine morphed into an uncontrolled spike that threatened a "death spiral" of defaults, the LME has said.

In 2025, the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority fined the LME 9.2 million pounds, equivalent to $12.5 million, for failing to ensure its systems and controls were adequate to deal with severe market stress.

Write to Kimberley Kao at kimberley.kao@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 08, 2026 07:13 ET (11:13 GMT)