Investment group Therium Capital to back court cases

Investment group Therium Capital is raising a fund to take advantage of the growing market in backing parties involved in multi-million pound civil court cases.

The Jersey Fund, backed by private equity firm Connection Capital, will provide funding for commercial litigation cases in return for a share of any damages. This form of investment is already popular in the US, where the market is worth billions of dollars.

Neil Purslow, one of Therium's founders, said: "Each fund invests in a diversified portfolio to spread risk and detailed diligence is undertaken before it invests.

"Over the past year we have seen a substantial increase in demand for this kind of investment as litigation funding enters the mainstream for commercial cases, giving us a strong pipeline into which the fund will be deployed."

The investment pool is expected to reach almost £10m when it closes later this month and be followed by another three funds.