25 March 2015

Harbour’s warchest bulges with launch of £230m fund

Dunn: demand is outstripping supply

Harbour Litigation Funding has raised a new £230m investment fund adding to the £180m of predecessor funds it already advises.

Harbour Fund III will fund international arbitration, as well as litigation in common law jurisdictions.

Further, there are now no restrictions on the number of cases the company can fund internationally; it is already backing claimants in 12 jurisdictions, including eight class actions in Australia and two cases in New Zealand.

Harbour’s co-founder and head of litigation funding, Susan Dunn, said: “Demand for funding continues to outstrip supply of funding in the market. The fact remains there are still only a handful of funders in the world with access to meaningful sums available to fund disputes.”

In 2013 Harbour established its own after-the-event insurance syndicate and has recently launched a damages-based agreement product as well.

Meanwhile, Peter Rees QC of 39 Essex Chambers has joined Harbour’s investment committee. A solicitor for many years, he was previously legal director of Royal Dutch Shell, head of global dispute resolution at Norton Rose and a litigation and arbitration partner at US firm Debevoise & Plimpton.

The investment committee, which meets monthly to review and recommend Harbour’s cases for funding, is chaired by Sir Gavin Lightman and also comprises Blackstone Chambers’ Robert Howe QC, Hardwicke Chambers’ Nigel Jones QC and Harbour founder Martin Tonnby.