Twitter 'ruse to inflate share price' Twitter is being sued for $US124m by two companies who claim a private sale of shares they had organised was cancelled. (Photo illustration by Mary Turner/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images TWO financial firms sued Twitter overnight, saying it supported their international tour to sell its shares last year, only to disallow the sales in a ruse aimed at boosting the company's valuation above $US10 billion for an initial public offering. Precedo Capital Group Inc, based in the US, and Continental Advisors, based in Luxembourg, sought $US124 million in damages, including $US100 million in punitive damages, for misrepresentations that it said were "wanton and egregious." Twitter is expected to go public in November, and its plan to sell 70 million shares will be the biggest technology IPO since Facebook went public last year. In a regulatory filing last week, Twitter set a price range of $US17 to $US20 per share for its offering. At the $US20 share price, Twitter would be valued at about $US12.5 billion. The two financial companies said they toured several countries and three continents in September 2012, lining up institutional funds, asset managers and high-net-worth individuals to buy $US278 million in Twitter shares. The lawsuit accused San Francisco-based Twitter of seeking an artificial market to ensure at least a $US19-per-share price, injuring the public because the initial offering price for its shares will not be based on price-to-earnings ratio and balance sheet valuations. "The public will now be purchasing shares at an inflated price, based upon Twitter's pre-IPO fraudulent misrepresentations," the lawsuit said. Twitter Inc. said: "We've never had a relationship with these plaintiffs. Their claim is completely without merit. The lawsuit said the financial firms took to the road looking for investors after a Twitter shareholder, GSV Asset Management Inc., claimed in March 2012 that it had negotiated a deal with Twitter to sell $US50 million to $US278 million worth of Twitter stock owned by employees, contractors and other stockholders. GSV Asset was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. In the 18-day international roadshow, 47 presentations were made in eight countries by GSV Asset and Continental Advisors while Precedo Capital made presentations to investors and 10 broker dealers in New York, Chicago, Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania, the lawsuit said. It said GSV Asset provided information at the roadshows including non-public information that came from Twitter. After obtaining more than $US50 million in commitments at $US19 per share, Twitter blocked the sale nine days after the roadshow ended, causing the plaintiffs to lose millions of dollars in commissions, fees and expenses, besides damage to their reputations, the lawsuit said. The firms said they were told that Twitter wanted to avoid a pitfall of Facebook Inc.'s initial public offering last year by removing an overhang of Twitter shares. They said they believed Twitter wanted to see if US and international buyers would support a $US19 share price in what amounted to a de facto public offering. "Twitter never intended to complete the private sale of Twitter stock," the lawsuit said. Twitter's intention was to induce Precedo Capital and Continental Advisors to create an artificial private market wherein Twitter could maintain that a private market existed at or about $19 per share for the Twitter stock.