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Australian market ‘continues to show increased curiosity for dispute finance’
Following a “transformative” refinancing of its debt facilities, a global litigation funder says it is “well placed” to meet client needs for capital in an evolving Australian marketplace.
Jerome Doraisamy
As recently reported by Lawyers Weekly, Omni Bridgeway recently secured the establishment of a $250 million institutional debt facility in a transaction that BigLaw firm Gilbert + Tobin — which acted for the funder, labelled “transformative” and an “important milestone”.
The refinancing, Omni Bridgeway said in conversation with Lawyers Weekly, gives it a materially lower effective cost of capital and increases its operational flexibility, which will enable it to make capital allocation decisions that should enhance shareholder value.
“Given the continued uncertainty of the global macro-economic environment, securing this debt facility now was a pragmatic initiative and we are delighted to have recently reported to the market the successful completion of this strategic capital management initiative,” said the funder’s chief executive and managing director Andrew Saker (pictured).
Both in Australia and globally, Omni Bridgeway uses capital sourced from private equity, public equity and debt to finance its investments, he outlined.
“This debt facility provides another pillar to our capital stack, which includes $3 billion in funds under management. As such, we are well placed to meet both our clients’ needs for capital and the diversification of risk required by our public equity holders,” he said.
Looking ahead, Mr Saker said, the Australian market “continues to show increased curiosity for the use of dispute finance”, as a cost and risk mitigation tool for solvent corporates and government entities.
As such, he said, the funder is financing interesting examples of commercial and other litigation for public and private entities, which historically would have self-funded their claims/recoveries.
“We witness increased appetite for our expanded product line, which includes for example asset tracing and enforcement services, claims monetisation, up front working capital, etc. Most recently, we publicly announced two secondary-market transactions in which we sold a partial share in a couple of litigation matters,” he detailed.
“These transactions reflect the sophistication of the dispute finance sector. Finally, in the collective redress area, where we have been industry leaders for many years, we are seeing large entities (including governments) joining some of the class actions we are funding, and we are hopeful the recent change of government will ensure access to justice via the class action regime (with likely adjustments to the MIS regime, thresholds for funders etc.).”
Looking ahead, Mr Saker said that Omni Bridgeway is continuing to increase its funds under management, which is enabling it to underwrite disputes of size and duration for clients around the world.
“We continue to expand our team and operations around the world. Macroeconomic conditions, pandemic disruptions, etc. present many opportunities for dispute finance, and we are glad to be able to provide solutions in the form of capital and strategic know-how to our clients around the world,” he proclaimed.
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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