A £300 million litigation funding pot was finalised yesterday, indicating that more high-profile class action lawsuits could be on the way. Litigation funder Therium Capital Management said it has completed a first close for a £200m pot, meaning funds can now be deployed to fund future cases. A further £100m is expected at a later date.

The funds are expected to be deployed within two years.

Previous cases backed by funders include the shareholder group claim against Lloyds Banking Group over the acquisition of HBOS during the financial crisis, the emissions litigation against Volkswagen and a £100m claim brought by a group of truckers who claim they were overcharged for their vehicles.

Seperately, hundreds of sub-postmasters have secured funding for a class action lawsuit against the state-owned Post Office after a 2009 IT fiasco.

The case, which is being brought by the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance‎, relates to an allegedly faulty accounting system called Horizon. The system mistakenly showed branches to be in financial deficit, which allegedly led to some of those affected being accused of false accounting, while others lost their homes or were declared bankrupt.

The claim has reportedly attracted more than 550 participants. The size of the compensation claim is not known.

Neil Purslow, co-founder and chief investment officer at Therium, said demand for litigation funding had ’exceeded expectations’.

‘Our new investor base provides the platform that we need to be able to deliver all of these products to our clients, and we are excited to be partnering with them in this rapidly developing space,’ he said.

John Byrne, co-founder and chief executive of Therium, added: ‘We are delighted to announce the first close of our largest fund, which marks a further milestone in Therium’s growth story.’