LINK facing super platform lawsuit

LINK Administration Holdings, which includes Australian Administration Services, Primary Superannuation Services, The Australian Administration Group and Link Super, is facing a lawsuit, according to a statement from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.  

Maurice Blackburn commercial General Counsel, Steven Harris, said software development company Shearpond had alleged LINK had side-stepped a royalty agreement it had in place regarding superannuation software.

Harris said it was being alleged LINK was trying to pass off the superannuation software system as its own creation, denying Shearpond founders Mike Perks and Bob Jones their “retirement plan”.  

“It appears that LINK would have us believe that it recreated its own system almost overnight,” Harris said.  

Shearpond has accused LINK of not honouring a royalty agreement since 2007 when Link tried to buy out the agreement for $75,000 - an offer that was rejected.  

Harris said the system was developed between 2000 and 2007.  

“Given the cost of the system and how long it took to develop - and that the only other similar system has reportedly been under development by Super Partners since 2008 and is still incomplete with total costs to date of around $200 million - LINK’s claims don’t stack up,” he said.   

LINK Administration Holdings Pty Ltd, which is majority owned by various entities of private equity firm PEP, which is facing another lawsuit by Japanese brewing company Asahi over a $1.2 billion purchase Asahi claims PEP over-valued, according to Maurice Blackburn.  

A representative from LINK Group said it would vigorously defend any matters arising from this legal claim