U.K. Joint Venture Seeks to Raise $232 Million to Invest in Expected Corporate Litigation Boom
Commercial / Securities
U.K. Joint Venture Seeks to Raise $232 Million to Invest in Expected Corporate Litigation Boom
Historically, the British have been part of the international crowd snickering at the amount of litigation in the United States. But the global financial crisis has led some sophisticated U.K. litigators–including Lord Falconer of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher–to predict a big bump in activity in British courts. After Lehman Brothers fell in September, the Gibson lateral said ripples from the investment bank’s demise would lead to “litigation on a scale we have not seen before” in England.
Now a pair of British companies are looking for investors to put money on that bet. Reuters is reporting that ILF Limited, a litigation insurance broker, and IGS Group, an alternative assets adviser, are launching a joint venture called Independent Litigation Funding that seeks to raise $232 million to finance midsize corporate litigation cases in U.K. courts. [Hat tip: Securities Docket.]
“Significant investors’ losses in most securities, coupled with the collapse of many of the global investment banks that structured and sold these securities, has given rise to an environment where proving the ultimate ownership of underlying loss-making or defunct securities has become imperative,” the firms said in a statement. In other words, “See you in court!”