The financial world has been on the receiving end of investor-related whimsy of late. Bizarre and unexpected high-end investments are taking financial pros by surprise. But what is driving these unusual, sometimes even hilarious, investments?
New York Times reveals that some folks are making money hand over fist during the pandemic. While many Americans struggle, others are flourishing as they seek out less traditional investments. Equity and bond investments are becoming less attractive than ever owing to market volatility and a general uncertainty surrounding the pandemic. This is the rationale behind investment in legal funding as well; not as exciting as owning a Tom Brady rookie card, perhaps, but still a worthwhile diversification play.
New tools like Robinhood and Coinbase have enabled unsophisticated retail investors to win fortunes (or perhaps lose everything). Some liken the rise of alternatives to a form of childish expression, explaining that money with nowhere to go may lead to choices that would normally be inadvisable. Robinhood is currently being accused of coaxing users toward addictive gambling behavior. So while these financial blips are interesting, most say that they don’t present any real risk to our financial system on the whole.
Some investments are related to pop culture. Sneakers, sports trading cards, NF tokens (proving the authenticity of digital goods), and outsider art are all selling for incredible sums. It’s been suggested that investments with pop culture significance can retain their value for years—with sneakers being a more stable investment than some might think.
It’s hard to predict how this boom in kitschy investments will end. It’s been suggested that as the COVID vaccines bring a return to normalcy, we could be looking at prosperity and celebration not seen in the US since the roaring ’20s. Here’s hoping the ensuing crash will be easier to weather than the last one.
Augusta Ventures, the largest litigation and dispute funding institution in the UK by volume of cases, has provided financing to help the Consumers’ Association (known as Which?) launch an opt-out collective claim, litigated by Hausfeld, against Qualcomm, Inc. for over £480 million, on behalf of a class of around 29 million UK consumers.
Which? is alleging that Qualcomm abuses its dominance in the markets for smartphone chipsets and standard essential patents, the result of which is that Qualcomm is able to overcharge smartphone manufacturers like Apple and Samsung for its technology. Which? says that those extra costs, which are calculated as a percentage of the price of phone handsets, have been passed on to UK purchasers of Apple and Samsung smartphones.
Which?’s claim will automatically include compensation claims for consumers who had purchased particular models of Apple or Samsung smartphones, either direct from the manufacturer, from a network operator or smartphone retailer, since 1 October 2015.
Robert Hanna, Managing Director of Augusta Ventures, said:
“This claim is about seeking redress for the millions of consumers who are the ultimate victims of Qualcomm’s anticompetitive conduct. We are very pleased to be working with Which? in their first claim utilising the opt-out regime introduced by the Consumer Rights Act 2015.”
Background on the legal case
Which?’s claim will state that Qualcomm employs two harmful and unlawful practices:
It is argued that these abuses enable Qualcomm to charge Apple and Samsung higher fees for the licences for its patents, than if Qualcomm behaved lawfully. Qualcomm’s royalties are charged as a percentage of the price of smartphones and which have to be paid by smartphone manufacturers even when they don’t use Qualcomm’s chipsets.
Which? says that the higher costs are ultimately passed on to consumers and Which? will attempt to recover these under the collective regime which allows Which? to apply to pursue a claim for an aggregate award of damages on behalf of affected UK consumers.
Now the case has been filed, the next step will be for Which? to obtain permission from the Competition Appeal Tribunal to serve proceedings on Qualcomm. If granted, the Tribunal will then decide whether or not Which? can act as the class representative and whether the claim can proceed to trial.
Hausfeld & Co LLP are supported by a counsel team at Monckton Chambers (Jon Turner QC, Anneli Howard, Michael Armitage and Ciar McAndrew). Which?’s economic experts are Oxera Consulting LLP and the claim is funded by Augusta Ventures.
About Augusta Ventures
- Augusta is the largest litigation and dispute funding institution in the UK by # cases. Augusta’s scale enables us to make decisions in market-leading timeframes and fund cases of any size.
- Augusta is organised into a series of specialist practice groups: Arbitration, Class/Group Action, Competition, and Consumer Litigation, and sectors including Financial Services and Construction & Energy.
- At the beginning of 2021, with over £300m of capital, Augusta had funded over 240 claims with a market leading ratio of over 70%
- Augusta has offices in the UK, Australia and Canada.
About Which?
Which? is the UK’s consumer champion, here to make life simpler, fairer and safer for everyone.
About Hausfeld
Hausfeld & Co LLP, a leading international law firm with offices in Europe and the US, specialises in claimant litigation and collective redress. The firm filed the first standalone opt-out collective actions on behalf of rail passengers in 2019 and is leading an opt-out action against six banks over their participation in unlawful price-fixing of the foreign exchange currency markets. Hausfeld leads on Trucks cartel claims in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. It has acted on some of the most complex damages claims of the last decade: on the ‘Interchange Fee’ litigation against Visa and Mastercard and the Air Cargo litigation against British Airways and 13 other airlines. It is also presently instructed in ‘Google Shopping’ claims on behalf of price comparison websites against Google and in claims against Marriott International, YouTube and Facebook in data breach and privacy litigation.
Deminor Recovery Services announces the closing of a financing round consisting of equity, senior bank loans and mezzanine finance for an amount up to €40 million to support its rapidly growing litigation funding activities globally.
The financing round is supported by the current shareholders as well as new investors including Saffelberg Investments, Finance&Invest Brussels and various other investors. The bank financing portion is provided by KBC Bank.
Along with its current cash position and expected realizations from the existing portfolio, Deminor expects to be able to commit €90 million in new litigation funding investments over the next 2-3 years. These investments will be on Deminor’s own balance sheet, allowing the company to continue to make fast decisions and propose flexible funding terms. Crucially, Deminor’s Investment Committee retains the ultimate decision making authority as to which cases to invest in.
Deminor’s core mission is to help investors and businesses monetise their legal claims by supporting individual and group litigation. We put our own money at stake: we pay all legal costs and only receive a return if a case is successful and our client achieves a recovery. Originally started in the field of collective securities actions where Deminor has built and occupies a leading place in non-US jurisdictions, the business has been extended and now also includes private antitrust litigation and B2B commercial litigation.
Deminor prides itself on providing more than just funding. We only take on good causes and we never compromise on our values. We stand by our clients and are determined to achieve recoveries for them. Clients can benefit from Deminor’s 13 year-long expertise in supporting complex international litigation and, where legally permitted, its unique claims management and back-office execution capacity. The company boasts one of the most impressive track records (over 80%) in the industry thanks to its careful selection of cases and management of litigation risks.
To serve its growing client base in the US, UK and Asia, Deminor has opened offices over the last 3 years in New York, London and Hong Kong. The team is composed of 30 legal, finance, marketing and claims management professionals speaking 13 different languages.
“This funding round is a milestone in the history of Deminor. We are thrilled to welcome our new investors and expand our success story thanks to their support. The additional capital will allow us to respond to the growing demand that we are seeing for litigation funding in our core markets and to achieve our mission statement: to give businesses access to the best legal representation and highest standards of justice when pursuing their legal claims.”, says Erik Bomans, CEO of Deminor.