Expansion of Investment Advis

RNS Number : 0037A

Burford Capital

25 January 2011

 



25 January 2011

Burford Capital Announces Expansion of its Investment Advisor

Burford Capital Limited ("Burford Capital" or "the Company"), the world's largest commercial dispute financier, is pleased to announce that its Investment Advisor, Burford Group Limited ("Burford Group"), has made further additions to its US team.  The decision to expand the team has come in response to the strong interest in Burford Capital's investment proposition.  The Company recently raised an additional $175 million (£110 million) of capital to help fund the continuation of its investment programme.

Burford Group has made the following key appointments:

·    Kenneth L. Doroshow has been appointed as a Managing Director of Burford Group LLC.  Mr. Doroshow is a widely experienced litigator who was most recently Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Entertainment Software Association, the computer and video game trade association.  Previously, he was Senior Vice President, Litigation and Legal Affairs for the Recording Industry Association of America, and before that spent ten years at the United States Department of Justice as Senior Counsel and a trial lawyer focused on intellectual property, constitutional and international law matters.  Prior to that, he was a litigator at both Covington & Burling and Weil, Gotshal & Manges.  He is a graduate of Cornell Law School.  Mr. Doroshow will be based in Washington, DC.

·    Ernest J. Getto has been appointed as a Managing Director of Burford Group LLC.  Mr. Getto just retired as a partner in the litigation department at Latham & Watkins, of which he was previously the National Chairman.  Mr. Getto has more than 40 years of corporate litigation experience, representing a diverse group of major corporate clients including Georgia Pacific, PG&E, Occidental Petroleum, Chevron, IBM, Mobil, Pepsi and many others.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, has served as Co-Chair of the Federal Procedure Committee of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association and as a member of the Board of Governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers.  He is a widely published author of litigation-related works and is active in many community organizations.  Mr. Getto will be based in Los Angeles, CA.

·    Wendy Del Mul has been appointed as General Counsel of Burford Group LLC.  Ms. Del Mul was most recently a partner and Managing Partner of the Venture Capital practice at Heenan Blaikie, one of Canada's largest law firms.  She was previously a partner at Torys, active in both the insolvency and investment fund areas.  Ms. Del Mul will be based in Boston, MA.

·    Emily O. Slater has been appointed as a Vice President of Burford Group LLC.  Ms. Slater was most recently a litigator at Debevoise & Plimpton, where she spent ten years focused on complex commercial litigation.  She is a graduate of New York University's School of Law.  Ms. Slater will be based in New York.

Commenting on the appointments, Chief Executive Officer Christopher Bogart said: "We are delighted with the extremely high quality of talent that has been attracted to Burford and the opportunity it represents.  The additions to the team will strengthen our presence in a growing market, and enable us to better capitalise on the strong demand for corporate litigation investments that we have witnessed since listing."

Burford Group has also informed the Company that Burford Group's non-executive Chairman, Selvyn Seidel, has told Burford Group that he intends to pursue a new business venture and will leave Burford to transition to this new opportunity over the coming months.  Seidel commented: "As co-founder of Burford and a contributor to its growth, as well as being part of a team that has been successful, I am proud of the accomplishments of Burford, and look forward with excitement to its continued growth." Bogart added: "We are going to miss Selvyn, but wish him well and expect to continue collaborating with him. I would like to thank Selvyn for his commitment and contribution to the Company's success to date."

For further information, please contact:

Macquarie Capital (Europe) Limited (Nomad and Broker)           

Jonny Franklin-Adams                                                 [phone]

Steve Baldwin

Espirito Santo Investment Bank (Joint Broker)

Richard Crawley                                                              [phone]                                                        

Financial Dynamics

Nick Henderson                                                               [phone]

Laura Pope                                                                         [phone]

www.burfordcapital.com

About Burford Capital

Burford Capital's strategy is to create and manage a portfolio of commercial dispute financing investments diversified by duration, claim type, geography and a number of other variables, with the aim of providing shareholders with attractive levels of dividends and capital growth.  The Company expects returns to be uncorrelated to general equity market performance.

In the short term, the Company's focus is on commercial disputes in the United States and on international arbitration matters; in the medium term, the Company may expand its focus to other attractive and suitable jurisdictions.

Burford Group Limited acts as Investment Adviser to the Company - www.burfordgroup.com

 

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