News and analysis dedicated to the commercial litigation funding sector including regulatory issues, case developments, funding activities, and more.

CHICAGO, Feb. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Keller Lenkner LLC today announced that it filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of all purchasers of securities of General Electric Company (“GE” or the “Company”) (NYSE: GE) from October 12, 2018through and including October 29, 2018 (the “Class Period”). The action was filed in the Southern District of New Yorkand is captioned Birnbaum v. General Electric Company, et al., No. 1:19-cv-01013.

SYDNEY (31 January 2019):  Leading global litigation and dispute financier IMF Bentham Limited (ASX: IMF) (IMF) announced today it is approaching investment targets for two of its funding vehicles ahead of schedule and has successfully increased the capacity of these vehicles to meet strong market demand for investment funding.

Melbourne/ Jersey, 30 January 2019. Therium Capital Management, a leading global provider of litigation finance, announced today that Louise Hird has been appointed to the firm as an investment manager. Louise joins Therium from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), where she was a director leading investigations focused on consumer and competition law. Founded in 2009, Therium is one of the largest and most established litigation financing firms in the world. The firm has funded claims valued at $36 billion.

NEW YORK (January 29, 2019) – Litigation funder Validity Finance has made a notable addition to its growing investment team with the arrival of portfolio counsel William C. Marra in New York. The firm also announced a prominent addition to its governance structure, with Allen Fagin, formerly chair of Proskauer Rose LLP, joining Validity’s board of directors.  Finally, Validity has retained former New York federal Judge John Gleeson, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York, as outside counsel to advise on investment opportunities.

Ever since its arrival on the stage in the early 1990s in Australia, litigation funding has managed to impact the broader legal climate in which it participates (in early 90s Australis, that was the insolvency market, today in Australia, the UK and America, that is nearly every legal sector). Take class actions, for example. Litigation funding has been proven to increase the rate of settlements  in class actions by 21%. Professor Vince Morabito of Monash University compiled data leading up to July 2017, which showed that funded parties in class actions are 69% likely to settle, whereas unfunded parties are only 48% likely to settle.

LONDON, SINGAPORE, HONG KONG, PHILADELPHIA 30 January 2019, Woodsford Litigation Funding, the global provider of litigation financing solutions for businesses, individuals and law firms, has announced that Hong Kong based Simon Powell has joined its Investment Advisory Panel.

NEW YORK (January 29, 2019) – Leading commercial litigation funder Bentham IMF has hired Sidley Austin LLP partner, Dana MacGrath, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP partner, Sarah Tsou, as investment managers and legal counsel responsible for sourcing and evaluating arbitration and commercial litigation matters that meet Bentham’s investment criteria. The company has also hired Chief of Staff, Tina Young, from Deloitte Consulting LLP. This marks the second round of hiring at the company since it launched its most recent fund in November 2018.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — RPX Corporation today announced that it secured licensing rights for 10 companies to 595 semiconductor-related patents owned by Godo Kaisha IP Bridge 1 (IP Bridge).

LONDON, PHILADELPHIA, HONG KONG 23 January 2019, Woodsford Litigation Funding, the global provider of litigation financing solutions for businesses, individuals and law firms, has announced further expansion of its international executive team and IAP.

(LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM 22 January 2019): IMF Litigation Funding Services Limited (IMF LFS), a wholly owned subsidiary of IMF Bentham Limited (ASX:IMF) (IMF), one of the world’s largest and most respected litigation funders, announced today a proposed shareholder action for shareholders of Danske Bank A/S (CPSE:DANSKE) (Danske Bank), to be led by specialist Danish law firm NJORD Law Firm and leading global litigation law firm Quinn Emanuel.

It’s no secret that over the last several years, Wall Street has been pouring money into the litigation space – whether indirectly by capitalizing litigation funders, or directly via their own investments into the space. However the recent revelation of Baupost Group’s $1 billion purchase of legal claims against utility company PG&E illustrates both the scope and scale of the hedge fund world’s interest in the legal sector.

Sparkle Capital are pleased to announce their new funding product, Flexible Disbursement Funding. The product fills a gap in the funding market, providing the flexibility claimants need to cover a range of disbursements. The product will join their current range, alongside 1&20 and Fixed Interest Release Funding.

Litigation Capital Management Limited (AIM:LIT) (LCM), a leading international provider of litigation financing solutions, today announces that it has entered into an agreement to provide litigation finance in relation to proceedings which are currently being undertaken in Australasia. These proceedings relate to a commercial dispute regarding the division of significant global assets, which are currently owned by a partnership.

LUXEMBOURG and SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Sisvel International S.A. (“Sisvel”) and RPX Corporation (“RPX”) today announced that they have entered into a multi-faceted agreement that provides a license to a subset of RPX clients covering more than 500 patents that make up the Sisvel Wi-Fi Joint Licensing Program. The Sisvel Wi-Fi Joint Licensing program is a solution designed to license standard essential patents (SEPs) for Wi-Fi enabled devices under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms and conditions (FRAND). In addition to the assets in the Sisvel Wi-Fi Licensing Program, Sisvel has also licensed the subset of RPX members to approximately 200 non-essential Wi-Fi assets, owned by Sisvel’s subsidiary, Hera Wireless S.A.

SYDNEY, 9^th January 2019: Litigation Capital Management (“LCM”), a leading international provider of litigation financing solutions, today announces the appointment of Philip Lomax as an Investment Manager in the company’s Sydney office. This continues LCM’s recent expansion following the launch of offices in London and Singapore in November 2018.

NEW YORK, Jan. 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Cadence, the leading investment platform for digital debt securities, has successfully funded and issued the first-ever tokenized fixed income product. This inaugural issuance is in partnership with a marketplace lender extending working capital to e-commerce merchants.