Trading Update

RNS Number : 8051K

Burford Capital

27 April 2010

 



27 April 2010

Burford Capital Announces Further Investments

And Reports on Business Progress

One-third of IPO proceeds committed after first six months of operation

Robust investment pipeline seen

Burford Capital Limited ("Burford" or "the Company"), the commercial dispute investor, today is pleased to report on its further progress since its previous trading update in January 2010 and ahead of its June 2010 interim report.

Investment Update

Burford has closed a further five investments since its last update with total new capital commitments in excess of $20 million.  Burford's portfolio now stands at total commitments of approximately $40 million across ten individual investments in a wide range of investment sizes.  Thus, in the six months since its IPO, Burford has committed approximately one-third of its investable capital, which is ahead of its expectations.  The investment structures and economic terms of the new investments are consistent with Burford's prior guidance to investors.

Including the new investments, Burford's portfolio composition is now as follows:

	Number of investments	Total capital commitments
Short duration portfolio	4	$11 million
Core portfolio	5	$25 million
Special situations portfolio	1	$4 million

To preserve litigants' confidentiality, Burford will not provide per case investment details*, including per case economic terms, until after the resolution of a matter.

Investment Pipeline

Burford continues to see strong interest from law firms, corporations and others.  Burford Group Limited ("Burford Group"), the Company's Investment Adviser, has informed Burford that it continues to have a substantial, dynamic pipeline of investment opportunities that it is reviewing and on which it is performing diligence.  The pipeline reflects a wide range of potential investment sizes, albeit with more investment opportunities in the $2-5 million and $8 million+ sizes than in the $5-8 million range.

Burford Group Continues Expansion

In addition to the substantial staffing additions described in the previous trading update, Burford Group has informed the Company of the appointment of Aviva Will as a Managing Director of Burford Group LLC, the US subsidiary of the investment adviser.  Ms. Will comes to Burford Group from Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:  TWX), where she was Assistant General Counsel and a senior litigation counsel.  Prior to Time Warner, Ms. Will had been a senior litigator at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York.

Christopher Bogart, Chief Executive Officer of Burford Group, commented: 

"We are pleased to report our continued progress and to have achieved the goals we set at the time of Burford's IPO last October.  To have committed one-third of our capital already, and 20% within the last 90 days, makes us optimistic about being able to complete deployment on or ahead of schedule.  We are also gratified that Burford is continuing to attract exceptional talent."

For further information, please contact:

Fox-Pitt, Kelton Limited

Jonny Franklin-Adams                                   [phone]

Financial Dynamics

Rob Bailhache                                                   [phone]

Nick Henderson                                               [phone]

www.burfordcapital.com

* It should be noted that when Burford enters into agreements to fund international arbitration matters, one of its core areas of business, it typically does so using a form of agreement that commits the claimant to Burford irrevocably on agreed terms but provides a period of further case development during which Burford is free to withdraw unilaterally from the agreement with no penalty and usually without having expended any capital.  This approach is desirable because it ensures that we do not expend undue time and resources on intensive diligence without being sure that we can fund the case on agreed terms once the diligence is completed.  As a result, although we report matters once definitive agreements have been signed, there remains the possibility that in some matters Burford will elect not to proceed in light of further information learned during the case development period. 

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.

In the absence of unforeseen circumstances, the Company anticipates that the net proceeds of its October 2009 IPO should be fully committed within 18 to 24 months of the IPO.

Burford Group Limited acts as Investment Adviser to the Company.  The principals of Burford Group are Christopher Bogart, Selvyn Seidel and Jonathan Molot.  Mr. Seidel has 40 years of experience as a practising litigator and chaired a variety of litigation and arbitration activities and cases for one of the largest law firms in the world.  Mr. Bogart has been a practising litigator, the general counsel of a Fortune 50 corporation managing a portfolio of litigation, and an investment manager.  Mr. Molot has been a practicing litigator, a senior advisor to the Obama Administration, a law school professor, and one of the leading US experts in litigation finance and risk transfer.

The Company is chaired by Sir Peter Middleton, former Group Chairman and Group Chief Executive of Barclays Bank plc. Sir Peter is currently UK Chairman of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Chairman of Camelot Group plc and Chairman of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, and also chaired a review of Civil Justice for the Blair Government.

 

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