Third-party litigation funder Calunius Capital has raised £40m from a private fundraising in Guernsey, marking the first successful closure of a third-party litigation fund for 15 months.

Calunius, which previously acted as a broker rather than an investor in litigation, will use its Calunius Litigation Risk Fund to invest in the costs of large-scale commercial litigation and arbitration, domestically and abroad.

Calunius said that it has approved three cases for investment and is considering another nine. Claims must be worth at least six times the cost of pursuit through trial, and carry a quantum of at least £3m.

Litigation funder Juridica Investments raised £80m when it became the first litigation fund to float on the London Stock Exchange in 2007, before raising a further £35m in March 2009. Litigation funder Burford Capital listed on the Alternative Investment Market in October 2009 and raised £80m, although it said before listing that it planned to raise £200m.

Calunius chairman Leslie Perrin said that some defendants settled cases immediately after they became aware that the claimant was backed by litigation funders.

‘Historically, the role of litigation finance has been to help financially distressed claimants and liquidators,’ he said. ‘Increasingly it is now about equalising resources, especially in David and Goliath cases where the claimant is facing litigation [against] a defendant [with] much greater resources.’

Calunius head of origination and execution Mick Smith said: ‘There is no upper limit to the size of claims we consider, provided they are economically rational claims.’

City firm Mishcon de Reya and Manchester firm Pannone both launched litigation funding products late in 2009, while national firm Addleshaw Goddard launched a product in June 2008.