LionFish announces key appointments

12 October 2023 | All Media Press Releases

LionFish Litigation Finance Limited (“LionFish”), is pleased to announce the appointment of its board of directors, senior advisers and key management, following its acquisition in July by funds managed by Foresight Group, a leading, listed, sustainability-led alternative investment manager with over £12bn assets under management.

The acquisition gives LionFish the strongest possible capital structure to leverage its standing, infrastructure and platform. These appointments put in place equally strong governance, management and investment structures, allowing Foresight to provide LionFish the operational independence to continue building a long-term, sustainable litigation funding business.

Gavin Wells has been appointed Chair. After an 8-year Army career, Gavin spent 15 years at Citigroup as Managing Director, overseeing various FX trading businesses. Since 2008, Gavin has been in various C-suite, senior management and strategy roles at the intersection of technology and finance, including building and delivering the first clearing service for global FX markets, working with central banks, regulators, investors and trading business on behalf of the London Clearing House. He brings a rare combination of technical financial knowledge, expertise in technology and strong C-suite experience to LionFish.

Graeme Scott has been appointed Finance Director. A Chartered Accountant since 1995, Graeme has held various CFO positions for over 20 years at high growth firms such as Tradeweb, the Property Software Group and CIPHR, where he was instrumental in delivering exceptional shareholder returns through organic growth and acquisitions. Graeme also brings uniquely relevant litigation funding and ATE market experience to LionFish, having led the spin out of FirstAssist Legal Expenses Insurance Limited from a larger MBO backed by Barclays Private Equity (now Equistone) in 2010, before running all finance, HR, legal, compliance and IT functions. He led the sale of FirstAssist to Burford Capital in February 2012 and almost doubled its EBITDA during his 2-year tenure.

Anna El-Erian has been appointed Senior Adviser. A corporate lawyer by training, Anna has over 30 years’ experience across Investment Banking, Private Equity and corporate management and restructuring. In addition to many years with Investec in her early career, Anna is a specialist in risk management, has also worked extensively in corporate finance / M&A, structured finance and specialist finance across multiple sectors including mining, renewables, banking and bio-science. Since 1997, Anna has also been a Director for various publicly traded and private companies, holding various board memberships across the USA and Canada as well as having various interests in the litigation funding space. She is the recipient of various awards and globally recognised as a leading figure in the world of finance.

Adrian Harris has been appointed Senior Adviser. Adrian has had a long and successful career spanning over 34 years as a Solicitor in private practice in the City of London; 30 of those years as a Partner. He began his career as a corporate lawyer, specialising in private company M&A and private equity, later specialising in cross-border insolvency and financial restructuring together with financial services litigation. His longstanding clients included many US and European financial institutions and international accountancy firms. He has worked with, and led teams involved in some of the largest and most complex restructuring assignments in the UK, the US, Europe and in Emerging Markets. He has been the Managing Partner of the London offices of two multinational American law firms, O’Melveny & Myers LLP and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, guiding the offices through periods of significant structural and cultural change.

John Evans has been appointed Senior Adviser. Qualifying in 1981, John has an extensive track record representing both claimants and defendants in complex business litigation, often multi-party and multi-jurisdictional, detailing a broad spectrum of alleged wrongdoing impacting multiple industry sectors. He has frequently been at the cutting edge of developments in substantive law and procedure, for example in relation to group actions and multi-jurisdictional insolvency or when procuring dispositive rulings on points of law.  He spent much of his career as a senior Litigation Partner at Ashurst LLP and has practised as a CEDR-accredited Mediator since leaving Fulbright & Jaworski (now Norton Rose Fulbright) in 2013.

Tets Ishikawa, Managing Director of LionFish, said: “We are delighted to have Gavin, Graeme, Anna, Adrian and John on board. They are not only all exceptional individuals with incredible calibre but the way they interact with each other and the business is hugely complimentary to how LionFish operates.”

Oliver Bates, Senior Private Debt Manager at Foresight, added: “We have always been impressed by the long-term potential of LionFish and achieving that requires a robust infrastructure that allows LionFish to operate nimbly and flexibly so it prioritises its customers. These appointments complement LionFish’s strengths yet further in achieving their business ambitions.”

Tanya Lansky, Managing Director of LionFish, comments: “We have seen a significant influx of enquiries since the acquisition and are excited to be back in the market and transacting. These appointments not only add to our strengths but reflect Foresight’s robust, commitment to our business and ambitions.”

About Foresight Group

Foresight Group was founded in 1984 and is a leading listed infrastructure and private equity investment manager. With a long-established focus on ESG and sustainability-led strategies, it aims to provide attractive returns to its institutional and private investors from hard-to-access private markets. Foresight manages over 400 infrastructure assets with a focus on solar and onshore wind assets, bioenergy and waste, as well as renewable energy enabling projects, energy efficiency management solutions, social and core infrastructure projects and sustainable forestry assets. Its private equity team manages eleven regionally focused investment funds across the UK and an SME impact fund supporting Irish SMEs. This team reviews over 2,500 business plans each year and currently supports more than 250 investments in SMEs. Foresight Capital Management manages four strategies across seven investment vehicles.

Foresight operates in eight countries across Europe, Australia and United States with AUM of £12.01 billion. Foresight Group Holdings Limited listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange in February 2021. https://www.foresightgroup.eu/shareholders

About LionFish Litigation Finance

LionFish is a market-leading litigation funder, providing fast, effective financing solutions to high value legal cases run by third party law firms. www.lflf.co.uk

*Based on Foresight Group unaudited AUM as at 30 June 2023.

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