Since its creation, IVO Capital Partners has been involved in Litigation Funding, and is among the European leaders in the industry. This strategy consists in enhancing the value of the rights of parties involved in litigation as a key asset on the balance sheet of the financed party. The growing role of legal departments within companies - increasingly transforming themselves into business units - have reinforced the appetite to finance costly and sometimes lengthy procedures, which have always been a normal part of corporate life. In addition, law firms and lawyers in general have seen their practices evolve significantly with the inclusion of litigation funding as a key partner and element in a case. 

For law firms, this type of financing gives greater visibility and security over the budget allocated to each case along with the support of the funder and its team along the life of the case. The structure of the funding agreement provides a strong alignment of interests between the lawyer, his client and the funder.

For investors, this asset class stands out for its lack of correlation with financial markets, a key characteristic in a portfolio of unlisted assets in our view. In addition, the possibility of obtaining asymmetrical returns and IVO’s tailor strategy controlling liquidity also make this an attractive asset class as a whole.

Litigation funding plays a key role in providing access to justice, by financing private enforcement type actions in Europe (in a collective or individual proceeding). These types of claims have appeared in Europe since 2014 thanks to the passing of the Damages Directive by the European Union, simplifying the legislative framework for these types of proceedings; this Directive was transposed into French law on March 9, 2017.

IVO Capital Partners now has ten years' experience in Litigation Funding, with over $115m invested and more than 47 cases funded. We are now focusing on deploying our third fund, IVO Legal Strategies Fund III SLP, with a complementary investment team that enables us to :

• ensure quality sourcing in an increasingly competitive market;
• to carry out legal and quantum due-diligences on each case studied;
• increase the selectivity of investments to improve the success rate of financed procedures.

IVO’s track record with a diverse portfolio in terms of geography and types of cases has also allowed us to gain significant experience to keep improving the structures offered to plaintiffs and law firms on the one hand and to improve the returns offered to investors on the other.