Pretium Sets Up Legal Investment Group
Specialized investment management firm Pretium has announced the setting up of a legal opportunities investment team. The firm boasts of more than $26 billion in assets. The newly established legal opportunities team will collaborate with corporations and law firms to find and invest in opportunities in the legal and commercial sectors.
The investment management firm will be investing in high-value complex disputes between businesses, antitrust, patent and intellectual property, arbitrations, bankruptcy, distressed debts and insolvency and monetization of judgments and awards. The firm has clarified that it will not be investing in consumer litigation finance.
The newly formed team will be headed by Matthew Cantor, who currently serves as a Senior Managing Director at Pretium. Prior to joining Pretium, he has worked both as an investor and as an attorney at leading law firms. This experience includes leading the successful resolution of the Lehman Brothers estate where he devised the legal strategy for liquidation of Lehman’s assets and business after it emerged from bankruptcy. He also served as a partner in the corporate restructurings group at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He started his career at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Cantor was also a Founding Principal at Normandy Hill Capital, an event-driven credit and special situations investment manager.
Charles (Chad) Schmerler will also be joining Pretium as Senior Managing Director and head of Litigation Finance. He previously served as the CEO of Yorkside Capital, a litigation finance firm founded by him. He was also a litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis, where he worked for more than 14 years. He has also authored a treatise on international insolvencies and debt restructurings. He completed his JD from Boston University School of Law.
The new team will also consist of other experienced legal, financial, and investment professionals having diverse professional backgrounds. They bring subject matter expertise in litigation finance, intellectual property, legal risk monetization, forensic accounting, and damage analysis.
Speaking about the newly formed legal investment group, Cantor said, “We look forward to working with law firms, corporations, and other sophisticated parties to utilize our deep knowledge and substantial capital to provide them with bespoke financing solutions that help them efficiently and effectively manage their legal risks and pursue commercial claims that fit within our investment criteria.â€
Don Mullen, Founder and CEO of Pretium said, “We are thrilled to further expand Pretium’s capabilities into this fast-growing area of the market, where we believe our combination of scale, an exceptional team, and financial sophistication meets a growing need. As many of today’s fastest growing companies and industries mature, there will be increased demand for experienced and well-resourced firms to assist them in managing their legal risks particularly in areas of intellectual property, patents and technology. With the expertise of our legal strategies team, we are excited to offer investors a diversifying investment with attractive returns that are minimally correlated to the broader economic cycle.â€
Mullen previously served as the Global Head of Goldman Sach’s Credit and Mortgage business, before he founded Pretium in 2012. Currently, Pretium employs about 2,500 people across its 29 offices.