RBG Holdings plc announces the launch of LionFish Litigation Finance (UK) Limited
RBG Holdings plc today announces a new subsidiary within its professional services group with the creation of a dedicated Litigation Finance business, LionFish Litigation Finance (UK) Limited (LionFish), headed up by a newly appointed Managing Director Tets Ishikawa.
Mr Ishikawa, a leading figure in the Litigation Finance industry, will be responsible for the day-today running of the business and will drive the growth of the nascent LionFish business in the expanding global Litigation Funding industry.
LionFish provides a fast, effective alternative to complex high value legal case financing for individuals, law firms, insolvency practitioners and corporates, across a wide variety of sectors. The corporate structure of the business will allow it to be nimble and focus on identifying attractive litigation risks where transactions are structured to suit the demands of the opportunity. Without the limiting and restrictive investment mandates that many other funders operate with, LionFish is well positioned to take advantage of the expected increase both in the number of litigation cases on the back of the current economic turmoil and the increased demand for intelligent, flexible, affordable financing and de-risking strategies for law firms and their clients.
As a wholly owned subsidiary of RBG Holdings plc (AIM: RBGP), LionFish benefits from the operational, corporate and financial support of the listed professional services group that recently reported 2019 FY results of £23.7m revenue, £9.4m EBITDA and a balance sheet of £42.4m.
Mr Ishikawa joins from Acasta Europe Ltd, an active underwriter of ATE insurance since 2006. He was responsible for the ATE business as well as managing its captive third party litigation funding company, Sparkle Capital Ltd, which he helped set up in 2014. Mr Ishikawa has been involved in litigation funding since 2011, alongside various other business activities. He was previously an investment banker at ABN AMRO, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as well as a founding partner of fixed income agency broker, Amias Berman & Co LLP. He read Philosophy, Politics & Economics at Oxford University, graduating in 2001.
Commenting on the appointment, Nicola Foulston, Chief Executive of RBG Holdings plc, said:
We are excited about the addition of LionFish to the RBG group and the appointment of Tets. Financing legal cases is not new to the legal industry, however, LionFish’s key differentiators are our ability to swiftly manage high risk complex matters and, where required, restructure them for the UK market. Tets’ broad range of experience and industry knowledge, as well as his entrepreneurism and his ability to marry his technical financial engineering experience with the commercial dynamics of litigation, will be an asset to RBG as it looks to establish its litigation finance business as a premier player in the market.
