An oil tycoon will go to court next week to seek the biggest single payout in Scottish legal history.
Aberdonian Kidd, 63, is seeking initial compensation of £150million, dating back to 2008, for a business deal involving his North Sea oil and gas drilling firm ITS Tubular Services. But the final payout could be almost £350million once interest of eight per cent a year is added.His action is against Aberdeen law firm Ledingham Chalmers, US private equity house Lime Rock Partners and employees of both organisations.
The legal dispute centres on a deal that saw Kidd sell Lime Rock a £34.5million stake in ITS. He retained a majority shareholding but in 2013 the firm went into administration with debts of about £145million. In 2021 Kidd also received a separate settlement from Glasgow lawyers Levy & McRae, which represented him in the case against Burness Paull, after claiming he had been over-billed. The firm charged him £6million in fees. He sued for £3million but it was settled out of court.