The company is one of the largest litigation financing firms in the world with more than $300 million in committed capital. Therium is making the move as it says it has identified a substantial market for litigation funding in Germany, driven by the increasing number of corporate and commercial legal disputes within a regulatory environment that has become more complex over the past few years. 

Litigation funding

Litigation funding allows individuals and companies to take on litigation and arbitration cases that they might not otherwise be able to afford, and/or to hedge the costs and risks involved in such matters.  Therium pays for all of the costs, including adverse costs in the event that the case is lost, and only receives payment if the case is won.

Demand

Therium is looking to fund litigation across financial services, securities disputes, cartel damages situations, insolvencies, post M&A matters and shareholder disagreements, in particular arising out of joint ventures. The firm is already engaged in Germany and has financed various significant cases, including legal proceedings for the remuneration of infrastructure construction work against a foreign sovereign state pleading state immunity and a securities litigation against a major German bank. In addition, Therium in London is funding the first UK claim against Volkswagen for the emissions scandal.

Strong pipeline 

Dr Christoph Kuzaj is the Managing Director of TheriumDeutschland GmbH and has more than 20 years’ experience in corporate and capital markets law and corporate litigation.  He said: 'Therium is the pre-eminent global litigation funding firm and I am excited to lead the business in Germany. There is a huge opportunity to fund meritorious claims across a range of complex litigation and arbitration situations and we have a strong pipeline of potential cases.'