Litigation fund Burford raises $175 million

LONDON (Reuters) - Burford Capital, an AIM-listed fund that seeks to make money from financing corporate lawsuits, has more than doubled in size following a placing on Wednesday that raised $175 million (110.8 million pounds) in new capital.

The fund sold 100 million shares at 110 pence each and expects the new capital, together with funds not yet committed from its initial public offer last year, to be invested within 18 months, Burford (BURF.L) said.

Commercial dispute funds such as Burford seek to secure a proportion of the payouts awarded in legal cases by financing some of the litigation costs.

The concept has proved popular with institutional investors and Burford's largest shareholders are Invesco Perpetual, Baillie Gifford and Fidelity International FIDLI.UL.

Burford's Chief Executive Officer Christopher Bogart told Reuters the new shares were placed with existing shareholders and a "meaningful" proportion of new investors.

Burford first listed in London in October 2009, raising 80 million pounds and has committed 80 percent of its capital to legal disputes, the company said.

Burford makes investments of between $3 million and $15 million concentrated in the United States but the fund plans to commit capital internationally in the medium term, Bogart said.

In a statement earlier this month, Burford said it had committed more than $40 million across six cases in the last three months.

The placing was managed by bookrunners Macquarie Capital and Execution Noble, Burford said.

(Reporting by Chris Vellacott; Editing by Sinead Cruise and Jon Loades-Carter)