Burford Capital
Burford Capital, founded in 2009, provides specialized finance to the legal market.[2] It operates as a finance and professional services company worldwide with principal offices in New York, London and Chicago. The company offers financing to lawyers and clients engaged in litigation and arbitration,[3] asset recovery and other legal finance and advisory activities.[4]
Type | Public |
---|---|
LSE: BUR | |
Industry | Financial Services |
Founded | 2009 |
Founders | Christopher Bogart Jonathan Molot |
Headquarters | Guernsey New York City Chicago London |
Key people | Christopher Bogart (CEO)[1] Jonathan Molot (CIO) |
Products | Litigation finance |
Website | www |
History
Burford was founded by Christopher Bogart as a way to fund legal cases. Bogart came up with the idea discussing legal funding with a colleague over dinner. The company was launched with Jonathan Molot in 2009.[5]
Burford has been publicly traded on the London AIM Stock Exchange (BUR:LN) [6] since October 2009 and issued further shares in a follow-on in 2010. In 2017, Burford received the AIM Award for Innovative Fundraising of the Year.[7]
On 7 August 2019, Muddy Waters Research announced that it was short Burford,[8][9] citing issues, as Muddy Waters saw it, with Burford's fair value accounting practices and of "egregiously misrepresenting" its returns on invested capital and rates of return.[10] [11] Burford countered each of the seven claims made by Muddy Waters, raising what it called “many factual inaccuracies”.[12] On 12 August 2019, Burford announced it had identified evidence consistent with “illegal market manipulation” of its shares in the run up to a short attack.[13] Three days later, on 15 August 2019, Burford announced the replacement of its chief finance officer, the spouse of the chief executive officer.[14]
References
- "Q&A with litigation financier Chris Bogart". New York Business Journal. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
- "What Do You Get if You Cross a Lawyer With a Banker?". Bloomberg.com. 2018-06-11. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
- "Burford Capital Ltd (BUR:London Stock Exchange)". Bloomberg. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
- "N+1 Singer Begins Coverage on Burford Capital Limited (BUR)". WKRB. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
- Kinder, Tabby; Beioley, Kate (9 August 2019). "Behind Burford Capital: the litigation funder under siege". Financial Times. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
- "BUR BURFORD CAPITAL LIMITED ORD NPV". London Stock Exchange. Archived from the original on 2015-09-07. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
- "Best AIM companies of 2017 confirmed". Interactive Investor. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
- "Burford Capital attacks short sellers as shares plunge 40 per cent". City A.M. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
- "Short seller Muddy Waters attacks litigation funder Burford Capital". The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
- "Muddy Waters criticises Burford Capital: the report unspun". The Times. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
- "Shares crash as short seller Muddy Waters savages Burford Capital". City A.M. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
- "Clarity on Burford Capital is needed after Muddy Waters treatment". The Guardian. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
- "Burford Capital alleges illegal market manipulation". The Times. 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
- "Burford Capital ditches finance chief in response to activist pressure". City A.M. 15 August 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.