Litigation investment firm Henderson & Jones lands £5M boost

Henderson & Jones (H&J), a London-based litigation funder specialising in purchasing claims from insolvent companies and individuals, has secured a new £5m working capital facility from Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance to support its growth plans. Introduced by Breal Capital, an original investor in H&J, Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance worked with the co-founders of the business to create a flexible facility. Kroll and Gateley provided due diligence and legal advice to support the deal.

Founded in March 2016 H&J’s mission centres on maximising recoveries from legal claims, without insolvency estates incurring the risks and costs involved with litigation. The company has invested in over 100 cases since its inception and has never lost a case, priding itself on working through setbacks and challenges to achieve successful outcomes.

The types of litigation taken on by H&J include cases pertaining to probate tax issues, tax avoidance and evasion, insurance policy claims, as well as wider fraud and misfeasance, including furlough fraud. Enhancing access to justice and challenging misfeasance in the insolvency sector are core priorities for H&J, exemplified by their current case against Hospital Medical Group (HMG). This £35m legal action, which has been covered in a report by the Sunday Times, is being brought against three former HMG directors, Barclays Bank Plc and The Wilkes Partnership LLP. If successful, money from the claim will be returned to the liquidators to distribute among creditors, to the benefit of thousands of women left with faulty PIP implants following procedures at HMG’s 18 clinics around the country.

The firm also recently reported taking control over significant property assets that had been protected under multiple sham trusts. Following forensic investigation of the trust documents, H&J successfully demonstrated that the purported trusts had been set up unlawfully, solely to prevent the properties from falling into the bankruptcy estate, and secured a swift outcome to the case without a court hearing being required.

The company plans to use new working capital facility to increase its scope of work. Increased capacity and resources will create new opportunities to develop H&J’s existing portfolio of litigation and to deploy creative strategies and innovative tools to help office holders realise value from difficult assets. It is a very common theme that insolvency practitioners are appointed over companies with very few (if any) assets left. Assignment and funding, along with professionals working on innovative fee structures, is vital in order to recover assets into the insolvent estate.

Gwilym Jones, managing director at Henderson & Jones, said, “Litigation investment is an innovative and profitable sector, and this facility recognises the real opportunities for growth through first-class litigation of appropriate claims”.