Commercial Intelligence targets $150m for Asia, Africa litigation fund

Alternatives Asia Africa Fund VII will primarily focus on financed claims in emerging markets, with a 20% allocation for claims outside Asia and Africa. CI says it has deals worth more than $250 million in the pipeline, currently under various stages of due diligence.

The fund has already secured two claims. An agreement has been signed with a mezzanine financier that provided an $80 million structured financing facility between a consortium of lenders and the Bermuda parent of a Singapore company. The mezzanine financier has been able to recover approximately $20 million. CI will pursue a claim for audit negligence against the former auditors of the Singapore company.

The second claim involves an agency relationship with the receivers of a Malaysian textile company with a claim against its former directors for breach of fiduciary duty and fraud. The directors colluded with various individuals to transfer shares in subsidiaries and associated entities overseas despite knowing the Malaysia-based parent had been placed under receivership.

CI's general strategy is to offer financing and management packages to liquidators, backed up by debt recovering investment funds.

"We take over the management of the documents, the organization of the claims, and the payments to lawyers, and arbitration and court fees right up until there is a recovery," Michael Shone, president of CI, told AVCJ in a 2011 interview. "When that happens, we split the proceeds with the liquidator through any number of variations. We try to get 75% of what we recover, which is what we've been getting in our most recent fund."

CI operates a series of private equity funds dedicated to litigation financing. Founded in 2007, the firm has more than $90 million in assets under management with an exposure to total claims with a combined face value of $1.25 billion.

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• Topics
• Fundraising
• Southeast Asia
• Credit/Special Situations
• Southeast Asia
• Distress
• Fundraising