Burford Capital is a financial services company that provides specialized finance to the legal market. Founded in 2009, it offers financing to corporate legal departments and law firms engaged in

litigation A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. ...

and

arbitration Arbitration is a formal method of dispute resolution involving a third party neutral who makes a binding decision. The third party neutral (the 'arbitrator', 'arbiter' or 'arbitral tribunal') renders the decision in the form of an 'arbitrati ...

, asset recovery and other legal finance and advisory activities. It operates internationally with headquarters in

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

History

Burford was founded by Christopher Bogart and Jonathan Molot in 2009 as a way to fund commercial litigation and arbitration. Bogart had worked as general counsel for

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

and operated a venture capital fund, and Molot operated a firm that provided capital to companies at risk of litigation. Burford began as a small fund that initially helped corporate legal departments pay their lawyers' billable hours during litigation. Burford became publicly traded on the London AIM

Stock Exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for ...

in October 2009 and issued further shares in a follow-on in 2010. In December 2016, Burford purchased Gerchen Keller Capital, another legal finance company. In 2019, Burford responded to a short attack by

Muddy Waters Research Muddy Waters Research LLC is an American privately held due diligence based investment firm founded by Carson Block that conducts investigative research on public companies while also taking investment positions that reflect their research. It ha ...

that claimed financial inaccuracies. The same year, the company replaced its chief financial officer, the spouse of the chief executive officer. On 12 August 2019, Burford alleged it had identified evidence consistent with “illegal market manipulation” of its shares in the run up to the short attack. On 21 June 2021, Burford announced it had successfully been paid $103m USD, resulting from the enforcement of a judgment in the divorce suit between

Farkhad Akhmedov Farkhad Teimurovich Akhmedov (, Russian: ''Фархад Теймурович Ахмедов;'' born 15 September 1955) is an Azerbaijani-Russian businessman and a former politician in Russia, departing his role in 2009. He is a former represe ...

, a Russian businessman and Tatiana Akhmedova. Bloomberg reported the total settlement amount was £135m. Burford Capital was successful in financing the enforcement of the judgment in the divorce litigation. Burford went public on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

in 2020. Burford financed litigation surrounding the

renationalization of YPF President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina introduced a bill on April 16, 2012 for the partial renationalization of YPF, the nation's largest energy firm. The state would purchase a 51% share, with the national government controlling ...

, where in 2023 $16.1 billion in damages was awarded against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

on behalf of two minority shareholders of

YPF YPF S.A. (, formerly ; English: "Fiscal Oilfields") is a vertically integrated, majority state-owned Argentine energy company, engaged in oil and gas exploration and production, and the transportation, refining, and marketing of gas and pe ...

. Burford's share of the verdict was estimated at $6 billion, with Burford seeking shares in YPF as payment on the judgement. In 2023,

Sysco Sysco is an American multinational corporation that sells, markets, and distributes food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, sports stadiums, and other venues that serve food. It also sells foodservice supplies and ...

assigned its claims to Burford in anti-trust lawsuits for price fixing. Sysco originally brought the suits against chicken, beef, pork and turkey suppliers. Burford had funded $140 million of the litigation beginning in 2019 and was later in a dispute with Sysco over settlements with the suppliers. It sued Burford, alleging Burford was interfering with the settlements. Sysco had previously assigned a substantial portion of the claims in breach of its agreement with Burford.

References

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External links

Burford Capital Home Page
Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Financial services companies based in London Financial services companies based in New York City Legal costs