Baron Gold could fly down to Sydney from Britain soon with his London-based Balance Legal Capital having undertaken a $163 million capital raising that will trigger a boost in its class actions given the Australian appetite for dispute finance.

Managing partner Robert Rothkopf, of Gold’s Balance Legal Capital, said that although these are difficult times, “we feel it is nevertheless important to publicise important milestones – being the launch of our new fund, and the next step in the firm’s growth”.

“The interest we’ve had from investors is testament to the success of the business so far, the calibre of our team, and our ability to provide a great service to litigants and law firms,” he said.

Lord Gold, a former partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, has been involved in several high-profile litigations, including advising the entertainment industry manager John Reid in his disputes with Sir Elton John and Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in his dispute with Boris Berezovsky.

In conjunction with Balance Legal’s move, Lawyers Weekly understands that some litigation funders have started ­recruiting staff and raising multimillion-dollar war chests as the first signs emerging of what could be a wave of class actions against businesses and governments that have already been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

This includes the recent infamous Ruby Princess incident which caused spikes in the number of coronavirus cases across the country. National practice leader Lisa Flynn had confirmed to Lawyers Weekly this could evolve into a possible class action. 

Meanwhile international litigation funder Omni Bridgeway has also launched a massive recruitment drive with global leadership appointments and specialists joining the firm for its Australian operations in response to what it calls an “increased appetite for dispute finance solutions”.

Omni Bridgeway gave a presentation to investors on 17 March pointing out that in previous pandemics the company’s share price had grown strongly.

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During the SARS outbreak in 2003, its share price rose by 164 per cent. During the swine flu epidemic of 2009, its shares rose by 26 per cent.

Omni Bridgeway has been quick to deflect criticism however of suggesting they are benefiting and “seeking opportunity” from a pandemic.

The funder said that the presentation had discussed the likely impact of the virus on the company based on past experience.

“To suggest that Omni Bridgeway views the COVID-19 pandemic as a ‘great opportunity’ to make profits is highly offensive,” said Marella Gibson who is chief marketing officer for Australia and Asia.

Balance Legal Capital has firmly stated that they are not investigating or considering any class actions related to COVID-19.

With the new fund launched prior to COVID-19, investors in the new fund include Balance’s anchor investor, which is increasing its commitment, and seven further global institutional investors, located across the UK, US, Switzerland and Australia. 

They include a university endowment fund, a European asset manager, and a global investment bank. As with Balance’s prior funding vehicle, Balance continues to have complete delegated authority over its litigation investment decisions. 

In addition to the discretionary capital pool, Balance has channelled direct access to significant further co-investment capital from its investors.

The Balance Capital team also includes heavyweights who understand the Australian class action scene well including Fraser Shepherd, the former litigation partner at Gilbert + Tobin in Sydney who is senior adviser to the investment committee.

However, Lawyers Weekly understands Lord Gold, who was appointed to the House of Lords in 2011, is not likely to rush down to Australia immediately at the moment in case he’s quarantined or to avoid the risk of infection during COVID-19.