Asset management company Blackrock has joined a group of Volkswagen shareholders who are bringing a lawsuit against the German automaker over its diesel emissions scandal.
Law firm Quinn Emanuel is expected to file complaint on behalf of the investors, including sovereign wealth funds and pension funds, against in Volkswagen a court in Braunschweig, Germany.
The shareholders are seeking €2bn compensation from the German firm, alleging that it failed to disclose emissions scandal in a timely manner.
BlackRock was quoted by the Financial Times as 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.”
Investors also claim that Volkswagen’s management knew about the emissions scandal from as early as 2014, despite a research study that pointed out about the emissions and about 11 million vehicles were fitted with defeat devices. The company admitted to the scandal in September, 2015.
Volkswagen is also undergoing about 380 lawsuits in its home country Germany. The lawsuit comprising of institutional investors is seeking €3.3bn in compensation.
In late June, Volkswagen agreed to pay a compensation of $14.7bn to its US customers and US regulators and fund government programmes to boost emissions technology and in the development of zero-emissions vehicles.
