Jefferies-linked fund takes legal action against trader Radiant World in London
Jefferies-linked fund takes legal action against trader Radiant World in London LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - LAM Trade Finance Group II, in which U.S. bank Jefferies JEF.N holds a minority stake, is set to sue iron ore trader Radiant World in London, according to court records.
Radiant World has come under pressure in recent weeks due to concerns that invoices provided to its banks may not have been valid. The firm has strongly denied the allegations, which have prompted some counterparties and lenders to halt or restrict business with it.
LAM Trade Finance Group II filed a pre-action application with London's High Court on August 27, court records show. The nature of the application or what it sought was not clear from the court file, which contained no publicly available documents.
As well as Radiant World, its founder Pinkesh Nahar, Sapphire Minmetals Corp - another trading firm that used to be part of Radiant World - and Sapphire Minmetals Chairman Rakesh Sethi were named as defendants in the filing. No further information was available.
The CEO of commodity trader Glencore GLEN.L, Gary Nagle, said last month the company considered Radiant World and Sapphire Minmetals to be part of the same group, although Sethi has denied this is the case.
Radiant World, Jefferies and Sethi did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday. Nahar could not immediately be reached for comment.
Jefferies was told that some of the invoices underpinning its financing to Sapphire Minmetals were not genuine, Bloomberg News reported last month.
The London High Court filing marks the first litigation in Britain in the Radiant World saga.
Mizuho Bank, the banking unit of Mizuho Financial Group 8411.T, has filed a case against the Singapore operating entity of Radiant World, according to the website of Singapore's Supreme Court.
Another creditor, trade-finance firm Incomlend, is suing Radiant World and Nahar in Singapore for $34 million, Bloomberg News reported last month.
(Reporting by Tom Daly; Additional reporting by Sam Tobin and Saeed Azhar; Editing by Jan Harvey)