• Tesco hit with fresh legal claim after £326m accounting scandal
  • US investment house Manning & Napier claims to have lost $212m
  • Tesco is already defending one claim of more than £100m from a group of 125 investors

Tesco has been hit with a fresh legal writ from investors in the aftermath of its £326m accounting scandal.

The supermarket giant is already defending a claim from a group of around 125 shareholders for more than £100m.

It will now face a separate lawsuit from US investment house Manning & Napier.

According to the Financial Times, the New York-based fund manager claims to have lost $212m in the wake of the grocer’s profit overstatement, uncovered in 2014.

Tesco has lodged a forceful defence of the first case, brought against it by a group headed by Allianz Global Investors and Russell Investments.

The grocer’s share price plummeted after it revealed in September 2014 that it had overstated profits by £263m.

The black hole in its accounts eventually grew to £326m.

Months later, Tesco filed a full-year loss of £6.38bn, one of the biggest in UK corporate history.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is continuing its investigation into the accounting scandal, having already charged three former Tesco executives with fraud and false accounting.

Its former UK managing director Christopher Bush, ex-UK finance boss Carl Rogberg and John Scouler, former UK commercial food director, all face trial in September.

Lawyers for the trio have confirmed they will plead not guilty.

The SFO said last November that former Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke would not face charges.

Tesco declined to comment.

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