A pair of lawsuits filed as part of China Fishery Group Ltd.’s sprawling chapter 11 case are seeking nearly $250 million in damages from the Asian arm of HSBC Holdings PLC as well as the return of another $22 million transferred to the bank in the years leading up to the bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Both lawsuits were filed against the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. on Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, where China Fishery sought bankruptcy protection two years ago. One lawsuit, brought by the court-appointed trustee now in charge of much of China Fishery’s business, alleges HSBC’s conduct in the run up to the bankruptcy “exceeded the boundaries of commercial reasonableness.” According to lawyers for the trustee, William Brandt Jr., HSBC broke ranks with other lenders in 2015, petitioning for the appointment of a liquidator just as the fishery business was beginning to recover from a series of setbacks. The move made it difficult for the company to access financing and scuttled negotiations to sell the business for as much as $1.7 billion.
