UK litigation funder Augusta raises $115m from US investment manager September 11, 2019 The UK’s largest litigation funder by case volume Augusta said today it had raised $115m (£93m) from an unnamed US investment manager. Managing director Louis Young said: “This development is a strong endorsement of the litigation funding industry and in particular, our market-leading experienced team”. Litigation funders back individual legal cases or portfolios of cases [...]
Saudi Energy Minister ousted from Aramco board ahead of expected float September 2, 2019 Saudi Arabia has removed its energy minister from the chairmanship of state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco as it prepares to float the company as soon as next year. Khalid Al-Falih will step down from the position, as the company tries to avoid too many conflicts of interest as it hits the public markets for the [...]
Hargreaves Lansdown drops Burford Capital after Muddy Waters short attack August 30, 2019 Hargreaves Lansdown has sold its holdings in Burford capital following a short attack on the litigation funding firm by US short-seller Muddy Waters earlier this month. The investment supermarket has dropped Burford from its Select UK Growth, Select UK Income and Select Global funds, said fund manager Steve Clayton in a statement on Hargreaves’ website. [...]
Burford Capital’s shares fall on fresh criticism from Canaccord analysts August 29, 2019 Shares in Burford Capital fell a further six per cent today as analysts at broker Canaccord Genuity unleashed a fresh barrage of criticism at the embattled litigation funder. Burford Capital’s shares lost 40 per cent of their value earlier this month after shortseller Muddy Waters blasted its accounting practices and governance. Read more: Burford left [...]
City Moves for 28 August – Who’s switching jobs at Oaknorth, King & Wood Mallesons and Baker McKenzie? August 28, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes Oaknorth, King & Wood Mallesons and Baker McKenzie. Oaknorth OakNorth, the next-generation credit platform, has appointed Tiffany Teng as chief of staff, and Bloomberg veteran Jeremy Payne as director of data product. Tiffany was previously at JP Morgan, where she worked on the launch of several products, including Chase Pay and [...]
Muddy Waters accuses Burford Capital of deceiving investors August 27, 2019 Shortseller Muddy Waters blasted litigation funder Burford Capital again today, saying the company “is not worthy of an Aim listing, let alone a US one”. The shortseller’s first attack on Burford earlier this month wiped 40 per cent from the company’s share price. Today Muddy Waters reiterated its criticism of Burford’s conduct in relation to [...]
Fresh blow for Woodford as suspended fund’s holdings take hit August 23, 2019 Neil Woodford has suffered his third setback of the day after it was announced that his suspended Equity Income Fund (EIF) significantly underperformed its industry benchmark. Link Fund Solutions, which is managing EIF’s suspension, said the fund had declined 11.15 per cent between 3 June and 21 August. By contrast, the fund’s industry benchmark – [...]
UK prosecutor handed £85m funding injection August 11, 2019 The UK prosecutor will be handed an extra £85m in funding as part of the Prime Minister’s crackdown on crime, Downing Street said this evening. Boris Johnson has awarded the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) the tranche of funding to help it build capacity and manage its caseloads over the next two years following a string of negative [...]
Shortseller Gotham City piles pressure on under-fire Burford Capital with further criticism August 11, 2019 Shortseller Gotham City Research has added to the pressure on litigation funder Burford Capital which it described today as “inappropriately financed”. Burford’s market value fell by nearly half last week before regaining some of those losses after it was savaged in a report by hedge fund Muddy Waters which has taken a short position in [...]
Window slams shut on litigation funder floats after Burford Capital’s terrible week August 11, 2019 The attack by shortseller Muddy Waters on Burford Capital last week has slammed shut the window on other litigation funders looking to go public. Muddy Waters criticised Burford’s use of fair value accounting – the inclusion of unrealised gains – and accused the funder of “aggressively marking” the value of the cases on its books, something Burford denied. The Aim darling-turned-lame-duck lost [...]