Blackrock has joined a lawsuit of Volkswagen shareholders who are demanding €2bn over the car maker’s handling of the global emissions scandal.
A law firm representing 100 investors is expected to file a case against the German car maker in its home state of Lower Saxony on Friday morning, reports Peter Campbell in London.
Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, is the second largest private investor in the group after the Qatar Investment Authority, with a 3.35 per cent stake.
The case also includes significant independent investors including State Street, Nodea Asset Management, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (Calstrs), and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund.
Shareholders will accuse VW of failing to disclose the scale and nature of the emissions scandal when it first became aware of it.
Despite being questioned about its diesel emissions in 2014, the car maker did not publicly disclose that 11m vehicles were fitted with cheating software until September 2015.
Shares in the German car maker fell by more than a third after the revelations.
VW shares have since recovered some of their ground, but investors who sold out believing worse was to come have been left nursing losses.
The case, which is represented by law firm Quinn Emanuel and funded by Elliott-backed Bentham Europe, will be filed in the Braunschweig District Court of Lower Saxony, Germany, on Friday morning.
A spokesman for Blackrock confirmed the asset manager’s involvement, saying: “On behalf of their investors, a number of BlackRock-managed collective investment schemes are pursuing, alongside other institutional investors, legal action against Volkswagen AG in connection with Volkswagen’s failure to disclose to investors its use of “defeat devices” that manipulated emission tests.”
VW did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The scandal involves 11m vehicles worldwide, which were programmed to emit lower levels of poisonous Nitrogen Oxide gases when it test conditions.
The revelations have sparked investigations, lawsuits and recalls over the world, and leave the car maker facing many billions in fixes and legal bills.
Another group Tilp, claiming to represent 250 shareholders of VW, will file a similar suit for more than €3bn in the coming days, while other smaller cases are also expected to be filed.
In total, VW may face claims for between €5bn and €8bn from shareholders, according to legal sources.
VW already faces class action cases in the US, but under securities rules investors can only claim losses from investments held in the US.