Burford Capital, the leading global finance firm focused on law, is expected to join the broad-market Russell 3000® and small-cap Russell 2000® Indexes at the conclusion of the 2024 Russell US Indexes annual reconstitution, effective after the US market opens on July 1, 2024, according to a preliminary list of additions posted on May 24, 2024. Burford is the first legal finance firm to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the first legal finance firm expected to join the Russell 3000® and 2000® Indexes. Legal finance is an emerging asset class generally uncorrelated to market conditions or the performance of the overall economy.
Burford’s inclusion in the Russell 3000® and 2000® Indexes reinforces its continued growth both with its investors and with its clients, which include Fortune 500 companies and many of the world’s largest law firms. Burford, which celebrates its 15th anniversary in October 2024, helps clients shift the cost of their commercial disputes as well as manage the risk and optimize the timing of the often-significant cash flows associated with pending claims, judgments and awards. The company has a multi-billion dollar portfolio, and in 2023, a Burford-funded case against Argentina involving the renationalization of Argentina’s oil company, YPF, resulted in the largest judgment in the history of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, with the court awarding plaintiffs approximately $16 billion in damages.
Christopher Bogart, CEO of Burford Capital, said: “Since its founding in 2009, Burford has deployed billions of dollars to the business of law, and we’re continuing to see growing demand from CFOs, GCs and other business leaders who recognize that they can use legal finance to turn the legal department from a cost center to a capital source, including a recent $325 million Group-wide commitment with a Fortune 50 company. Joining the Russell 3000® and 2000® Indexes is an exciting moment for Burford, and we are proud to continue on a trajectory of growth and increasing visibility to clients and investors alike.”
Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for active investment strategies. According to the data as of the end of December 2023, about $10.5 trillion in assets are benchmarked against the Russell US indexes.
About Burford Capital
Burford Capital is the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law. Its businesses include litigation finance and risk management, asset recovery and a wide range of legal finance and advisory activities. Burford is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUR) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: BUR), and it works with companies and law firms around the world from its offices in New York, London, Chicago, Washington, DC, Singapore, Dubai, Sydney and Hong Kong.
For more information, please visit www.burfordcapital.com.
This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any ordinary shares or other securities of Burford.
Forward-looking statements
This announcement contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, regarding assumptions, expectations, projections, intentions and beliefs about future events. These statements are intended as “forward-looking statements”. In some cases, predictive, future-tense or forward-looking words such as “aim”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “continue”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”, “forecast”, “guidance”, “intend”, “may”, “plan”, “potential”, “predict”, “projected”, “should” or “will” or the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Burford cautions that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on numerous assumptions, expectations, projections, intentions and beliefs and that Burford’s actual results of operations, including its financial position and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which it operates, may differ materially from (and be more negative than) those made in, or suggested by, the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement. Except as required by law, Burford undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
