An insolvency litigation funding venture launched by Liverpool law firm Provenio Litigation in February has hit the £10m mark. Tony McDonough reports

A Liverpool insolvency litigation financing venture launched earlier this year is already funding £10m worth of live claims.

Law firm Provenio Litigation announced it was setting up Optimise in February. It offers liquidators or administrators an upfront payment and an agreed percentage of the final recovery on a claim. All claims are managed by the Provenio Litigation team.

While the majority of Optimise’s claims against former directors are valued between £100,000 and £1m, managing director Mark Goodwin says insolvency practitioners and lawyers have pointed to a lack of funding options for claims below £100,000.

To plug this gap, Optimise has launched a specialist product for lower value claims. This is made possible by Optimise’s partnership with Provenio and established arrangements with a leading litigation funder, enabling flexible management of legal costs.

“With our flexible approach, Optimise can consider high-value insolvency claims as well as those valued at circa £75,000 and above, which may be overlooked or deemed too small by traditional funders,” explained Mark.

“In a market traditionally dominated by one supplier, we believe this area of work has been overlooked.

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“Optimise is being utilised for a wide range of insolvency litigation related claims including overdrawn directors’ loan accounts, breach of contract, breach of duty, transactions at undervalue, preferences, unlawful dividends, wrongful trading and claims against third parties.”

Optimise’s management board includes Mark Goodwin, Alvarez and Marsal’s former joint head of restructuring North West, Paul Flint, former Exchange Chambers chief executive, Tom Handley and operations director, Harry Goodwin.