Contingency Capital provided a 72 million euros secured financing facility. Belgium family office Stalusa, finance&invest Brussels and private equity Saffelberg Investments also supported Deminor
Global litigation funding firm Deminor attracted 100 million euros in equity and debt (senior, junior and asset-backed financing) for its organic growth and increasing its portfolio in Continental Europe (Giacomo Lorenzo heads Deminor Italia), The UK and Asia (press release).
New York’s Contingency Capital LLC (leading lender), Belgium Family Office Stalusa, previous investors Finance&invest Brussels sa (a joint venture that the Municipality signed with local financial firms), private equity Saffelberg Investments, and the borrower’s managers provided Deminor with a secured credit line of 72 million euros.
In 2021, the company secured 40 million euros from Saffelberg Investments, Finance&Invest Brussels (equity) and KBC Bank (debt) (press release).
Deminor diversified its portfolio both by type of litigation and geographic scope. The firm initially focused on securities actions that investors in Continental Europe started. Deminor currently invests in a wide range of litigation, including antitrust private enforcement actions, class actions, commercial litigation and arbitration, in its three core markets: Continental Europe, the UK and Asia. The firm has offices in Brussels, Milan, London, Hamburg, New York, Hong Kong, Madrid, Stockholm, and Luxembourg.
The firm is currently handling 47 suits and invested in 85 legal actions in 23 different jurisdictions. Deminor and its clients proved successful in 78.8% of cases grace to a rigorous selection and a prudent approach to risk management.
The company also uses a proprietary digital platform to handle class actions in areas such as financial market law, competition law and consumer protection law.
In addition to supporting individual litigation, Deminor originates, structures and financially supports class actions. In 2018, it played a key role in two of the largest settlements concluded in securities litigation in Europe: the 1.4 billion euros worth Steinhoff suit, and 1.3 billion worth Fortis/Ageas case.
The firm is the first non-US player that became a Certified B Corporation grace to its high standards in terms of social and environmental commitment, transparency and accountability.
Bruxelles-based Deminor (Défense des [actionnaires] Minoritaires), was born in 1990 and started its activity with the brand Deminor Recovery Services (Luxembourg) sa who initially started his business as an advisor to minority shareholders of listed companies in special situations such as takeover bids and difficult corporate governance cases.
In 2003, Deminor assisted some large international pension funds and investment funds that held minorities of Milan-listed Telecom Italia and wanted to block Marco Tronchetti Provera proposal for blocking the operation to shorten the company’s chain of control (MF Milano Finanza) which then went ahead anyway.
In 2005, Deminor successfully advised a pool of institutional investors in Banco BPM (fka Banca Popolare di Milano) that wanted to change the firm’s governance structure. In 2005, Deminor also sold its corporate governance, voting and rating activities to Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and since then switched its focus on litigation funding.
