Global litigation finance major Omni Bridgeway eyes India entry

Omni Bridgeway, which is one of the largest litigation funders in the world with assets under management (AUM) worth over $3 billion, is planning to enter the Indian market to aid banks, businesses, and resolution professionals (RPs) in recovering bad offshore debts and assets held abroad.  

“The Indian market has a lot of potential and remains untapped with plenty of domestic opportunities,” said Tom Glasgow, Managing Director, Omni Bridgeway. He was speaking at India’s first Litigation and Insolvency Summit, 2022, which was organised last week by LegalPay, a domestic litigation funding start-up. 

Glasgow, who has been with Omni Bridgeway since 2017, further said that while litigation funding is a widely prevalent concept globally, it is still quite new to India even as homegrown start-up LegalPay has been working towards creating awareness regarding the scope and potential of the segment.  

Simply put, litigation financing is third-party funding for litigation matters. While litigation financing is quite new in India, it is quite popular in many of the developed economies where there are dedicated ventures that specialise in such kind of funding.  

“The pace at which litigation financing has grown across the world over the last decade is phenomenal and the Indian market presents a lucrative opportunity for global investors having thesis of ESG investing,” said Glasgow. 

This assumes significance as data from the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India shows that there are 5,481 total cases where CIRP -- Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process -- has been initiated against the corporate debtors. Further, there has been commencement of the liquidation process in 1,703 cases.

Incidentally, in its annual report for the year 2021, Omni Bridgeway stated that it has expanded its geographic presence with remote servicing, offices, agencies and other arrangements, to service countries like Japan, India, Latin America, New Zealand and Spain. 

Litigation funding is fast gaining popularity in India as an increasing number of law firms and businesses are looking at such financing to fund their legal matters. 

A recent study by LegalPay found that over 40 per cent of the cases that it funded originated from Tier I law firms with around 25 per cent of the matters coming from independent counsels as well. 

Since its inception in 2019, LegalPay, has underwritten over 1,500 cases of litigations and arbitrations across jurisdictions including India, Australia, Singapore, US and Europe. 

The LegalPay study also showed that as much as 73 per cent of the cases originated from the unlisted space with logistics as a sector accounting for the largest chunk at 31 per cent, followed by financial institutions at 28 per cent and constructions at 22 per cent. 

Meanwhile, the LegalPay event was attended by more than 150 veterans, including high profile lawyers, international funders, resolution professionals, investors, venture funds, family offices, banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), fintech players, asset reconstruction companies (ARCs), and wealth management companies among others. 

Global philanthropist and former chairman of Via.com, Ashwini Kakkar also highlighted the impact of legal financing, shedding light on the impact it creates for the claimants who do not have access to the right set of legal professionals and finances to pursue meritorious disputes against larger players.  

In a similar context, Hiroo Advani, founder of Advani Law, shared his thoughts regarding the rising role of funding in arbitrations in India and how it will shape up in the near future and help set up smoother arbitrary operations for the overall growth of the legal industry.

Also read: What is litigation funding? The new trend in Indian legal system