UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 6-K

REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR 15d-16 UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the month of August 2022

Commission File Number: 001-39511

BURFORD CAPITAL LIMITED

(Translation of registrant’s name into English)

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Oak House

Hirzel Street

St. Peter Port

Guernsey GY1 2NP

(Address of principal executive office)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.

Form 20-F ☒ Form 40-F ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): ☐

Note: Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1) only permits the submission in paper of a Form 6-K if submitted solely to provide an attached annual report to security holders.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): ☐

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Note: Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7) only permits the submission in paper of a Form 6-K if submitted to furnish a report or other document that the registrant foreign private issuer must furnish and make public under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the registrant is incorporated, domiciled or legally organized (the registrant’s “home country”), or under the rules of the home country exchange on which the registrant’s securities are traded, as long as the report or other document is not a press release, is not required to be and has not been distributed to the registrant’s security holders, and, if discussing a material event, has already been the subject of a Form 6-K submission or other Commission filing on EDGAR.

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This Report on Form 6-K includes materials as an exhibit that have been made available in respect of Burford Capital Limited (“Burford”) as of August 9, 2022.

This Report on Form 6-K is incorporated by reference into the following Registration Statements of Burford:

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EXHIBIT INDEX

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

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Date: August 9, 2022

Forward-looking statements

In addition to statements of historical fact, this report for the six months ended June 30, 2022 (this “Interim Report”) contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). The disclosure and analysis set forth in this Interim Report include assumptions, expectations, projections, intentions and beliefs about future events in a number of instances, particularly in relation to our operations, cash flows, financial position, plans, strategies, business prospects, changes and trends in our business and the markets in which we operate. These statements are intended as “forward-looking statements”. In some cases, predictive, future-tense or forward-looking words such as “aim”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “continue”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”, “forecast”, “guidance”, “intend”, “may”, “plan”, “potential”, “predict”, “projected”, “should” or “will” or the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. In addition, we and our representatives may from time to time make other oral or written statements which are forward-looking statements, including in our other periodic reports that we file with, or furnish to, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), other information sent to our security holders and other written materials. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. We caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on numerous assumptions, expectations, projections, intentions and beliefs and that our actual results of operations, including our financial position and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which we operate may differ materially from (and be more negative than) those made in, or suggested by, the forward-looking statements contained in this Interim Report. In addition, even if our results of operations, including our financial position and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which we operate are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this Interim Report, those results of operations or developments may not be indicative of results of operations or developments in subsequent periods.

Factors that might cause future results of operations or developments to differ include, among others, the following:

These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements contained in this Interim Report, the Annual Report and our other periodic reports that we file with, or furnish to, the SEC. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of these factors.

Further, we cannot assess the impact of each such factor on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward-looking statement.

The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Interim Report and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained in this Interim Report, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Basis of presentation of financial information

We report our condensed consolidated financial statements for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021 included in this Interim Report in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“US GAAP”). Our condensed consolidated financial statements are presented in US Dollars.

Non-GAAP financial measures relating to our business structure

US GAAP requires us to present financial statements that consolidate some of the limited partner interests in funds we manage as well as assets held on our balance sheet where we have a partner or minority investor. See note 17 (Variable interest entities) to our condensed consolidated financial statements for additional information. We refer to this presentation as “consolidated”. We strive to provide a view of Burford as a stand-alone business (i.e., eliminating the impact of these managed funds) by furnishing information on a non-GAAP basis that eliminates the effect of this consolidation. We refer to this presentation as “Burford-only”. In addition, we strive to provide supplemental information that presents the totality of our legal finance activities by furnishing information on a non-GAAP basis that reflects the contribution of both our consolidated and non-consolidated managed funds. We refer to this presentation as “Group-wide”. To that end, throughout this Interim Report, we refer to our business as follows:

We use Burford-only and Group-wide financial measures, which are calculated and presented using methodologies other than in accordance with US GAAP, to supplement analysis and discussion of our condensed consolidated financial statements. We believe Group-wide financial measures, including Group-wide information on our capital provision assets and undrawn commitments, are useful to investors because they convey the scale of our existing (in the case of Group-wide capital provision assets) and potential future (in the case of Group-wide undrawn commitments) business and the performance of all legal finance assets originated by us. Although we do not receive all of the returns of our managed funds, we do receive management and performance fees as part of our income. Further, we believe that Group-wide portfolio metrics, including the performance of our managed funds, are important measures by which to assess our ability to attract additional capital and to grow our business, whether directly or through managed funds. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with US GAAP. See “Financial and Operational Review—Reconciliations” for the reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to our condensed consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with US GAAP.

APMs and non-GAAP financial measures relating to our operating and financial performance

APMs

This Interim Report presents certain unaudited alternative performance measures (“APMs”). The APMs are presented because (i) we use them to monitor our financial position and results of operations and/or (ii) we believe they are useful to investors, securities analysts and other interested parties. The APMs, as defined by us, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures as presented by other companies due to differences in the way the APMs are calculated. Even though the APMs are used to assess our financial position and results of operations, and these types of measures are commonly used by investors, they have important limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation from, or as substitutes for, our condensed consolidated financial position or results of operations. Consistent with how management assesses Burford’s business, we also present certain of these APMs on a (i) consolidated basis, (ii) Burford-only basis and (iii) Group-wide basis.

The presentation of the APMs is for informational purposes only and does not purport to present what our actual financial position or results of operations would have been, nor does it project our financial position at any future date or our results of operations for any future period. The presentation of the APMs is based on information available at the date of this Interim Report and certain assumptions and estimates that we believe are reasonable. Several of the APMs measure certain performance of our assets to the end of the period and include concluded and partially concluded portfolios (as described below).

In discussing cash returns and performance of our asset management business, we refer to several metrics that we have applied consistently in our financial disclosure:

In most instances, concluded assets both conclude and result in receipt of all cash proceeds associated with the assets in the same period. Sometimes, non-cash assets are received or cash will be paid over time. In those instances, a “due from settlement of capital provision assets” receivable is recorded on our condensed consolidated statement of financial position, in which event we estimate the future date we expect to receive cash for purposes of calculating returns or other metrics, such as IRR and WAL (each as defined below). When proceeds are ultimately received, we adjust our presentation of returns to reflect actual proceeds and timing.

For purposes of calculating returns, we must consider how to allocate the costs associated with an asset in the event of a partial conclusion. Our approach to cost allocation depends on the type of asset:

Unlike our IRR and ROIC calculations, using the aggregate cash flows from the portfolio in making our portfolio level computations will not readily work with WAL computations because our funded assets are originated in different timeframes. Instead, in calculating a portfolio WAL, we compute a weighted average of the individual asset WALs. In doing this, we weight the individual WALs by the costs deployed on the asset and also, as a separate calculation, by the amount of realizations on the individual assets.

Non-GAAP financial measures

In addition to these measures of cash returns and performance of our asset management business, we also refer to cash receipts and tangible book value attributable to Burford Capital Limited per ordinary share, which are non-GAAP financial measures:

Cash receipts is a non-GAAP financial measure and should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with US GAAP. The most directly comparable US GAAP measure is proceeds from capital provision assets as set forth in our condensed consolidated statements of cash flows. We believe that cash receipts is an important measure of our operating and financial performance and is useful to management and investors when assessing the performance of our Burford-only capital provision assets. See “Financial and Operational Review—Reconciliations—Cash receipts reconciliations” for a reconciliation of cash

receipts to proceeds from capital provision assets, the most comparable measure calculated in accordance with US GAAP.

Tangible book value attributable to Burford Capital Limited per ordinary share is calculated by subtracting intangible assets (such as goodwill) from total Burford Capital Limited equity and dividing the difference by the total number of outstanding ordinary shares.

Tangible book value attributable to Burford Capital Limited per ordinary share is a non-GAAP financial measure and should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with US GAAP. The most directly comparable US GAAP measure is total Burford Capital Limited equity as set forth in our condensed consolidated statements of financial position. We believe that tangible book value attributable to Burford Capital Limited per ordinary share is an important measure of our financial condition and is useful to management and investors when assessing capital adequacy and our ability to generate earnings on tangible equity invested by our shareholders. See “Financial and operational review—Reconciliations—Tangible book value attributable to Burford Capital Limited per ordinary share reconciliations” for a reconciliation of tangible book value per ordinary share to total Burford Capital Limited equity, the most comparable measure calculated in accordance with US GAAP.

Certain terms used in this Interim Report

In this Interim Report, references to “Burford”, “we”, “us” or “our” refer to Burford Capital Limited and its subsidiaries, unless the context requires otherwise.

Certain additional terms used in this Interim Report are set forth below:

Advantage Fund

Burford Advantage Master Fund LP, a private fund for which BCIM serves as the investment advisor and which is focused on pre-settlement litigation strategies where litigation risk remains, but the risk is anticipated to be lower than that of our core legal finance business. Investors in the Advantage Fund include third-party limited partnerships as well as Burford’s balance sheet. Investments in the Advantage Fund are recorded as capital provision-indirect assets.

Alternative strategies

Encompasses complex strategies, lower risk legal finance and post-settlement finance assets that provide lower but attractive risk-adjusted returns.

Asset management

Includes our activities administering the private funds we manage for third-party investors.

Asset management income

Income from fees earned from administering the private funds we manage for third-party investors.

Asset recovery

Pursuit of enforcement of an unpaid legal judgment, which may include our financing of the cost of such pursuit and/or judgment enforcement.

BAIF

Burford Alternative Income Fund LP, a private fund focused on post-settlement legal finance matters.

BAIF II

Burford Alternative Income Fund II LP, a private fund focused on post-settlement legal finance matters.

BCIM

Burford Capital Investment Management LLC, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Burford Capital Limited, serves as the investment advisor of all of our managed funds and is registered under the US Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended.

BOF

Burford Opportunity Fund LP, a private fund focused on pre-settlement legal finance matters.

BOF-C

Burford Opportunity Fund C LP, a private fund through which a sovereign wealth fund invests in pre-settlement legal finance matters under the sovereign wealth fund arrangement.

Capital provision assets

We subdivide our capital provision assets into two categories:

“Direct”, which includes all of our capital provision assets that we have originated directly (i.e., not through participation in a fund) from our balance sheet. We also include direct (i.e., not through participation in a fund) complex strategies assets in this category. See note 3 (Supplemental cash flow data) to our condensed consolidated financial statements for additional information.

“Indirect”, which includes the balance sheet’s participations in two of our private funds (i.e., the Strategic Value Fund and the Advantage Fund).

Capital provision income

Income from our portfolio of capital provision assets and related positions.

Carrying value

Amount at which an asset is carried on the balance sheet, reflecting cost and any fair value adjustment.

Claimant

The party who asserts a right or title in a legal proceeding, in particular in arbitration matters.

Claim family

A group of legal finance assets with a related underlying claim shared by a number of different claimants.

Colorado

Colorado Investments Limited, a limited liability company that was created for the secondary sale of some of our entitlement in the YPF-related Petersen matter.

Complex strategies

Encompasses our activities providing capital as a principal in legal- or regulatory-related assets, often securities, debt and other financial assets, where a significant portion of the expected return arises from the outcome of legal or regulatory activity.

Consolidated funds

Certain of our private funds in which, because of our investment in and/or control of such private funds, we are required under US GAAP to consolidate the minority limited partner’s interests in such private funds and include the full financial results of such private funds within our condensed consolidated financial statements. At the date of this Interim Report, BOF-C, the Strategic Value Fund and the Advantage Fund are consolidated funds.

Core legal finance

Provision of capital and expertise, to clients or as a principal, in connection with (i) the underlying asset value of litigation claims and enforcement of settlements, judgments and awards, (ii) the amount paid to law firms as legal fees and (iii) the value of assets affected by litigation.

Defendant

The party against whom a civil action is brought, in particular in litigation matters.

Deployment

Funding provided for an asset, which adds to our invested cost in such asset.

Definitive commitments

Commitments where we are contractually obligated to fund incremental capital and failure to do so would typically result in adverse contractual consequences (such as a dilution in our returns or the loss of our funded capital in a case).

Discretionary commitments

Commitments where we are not contractually obligated to advance capital and generally would not suffer adverse financial consequences from failing to do so.

Fair value adjustment

The amount of unrealized gain or loss recognized in our profit or loss account in the relevant period and added to or subtracted from, as applicable, asset value on our condensed consolidated statements of financial position.

Judgment debtor

A party against whom there is a final adverse court award.

Judgment enforcement

The activity of using legal and financial strategies to force a judgment debtor to pay an adverse award made by a court.

Legal finance

Our legal finance products and services comprise (i) core legal finance and (ii) alternative strategies.

Legal risk management

Matters where we provide some form of legal risk arrangement, such as an indemnity or insurance for adverse legal costs.

Litigation

We use the term litigation colloquially to refer to any type of matter involved in the litigation, arbitration or regulatory process and the costs and legal fees associated therewith.

Lower risk legal finance

Pre-settlement litigation investments with lower risk and lower expected returns than assets included in our core legal finance portfolio. At the date of this Interim Report, our lower risk legal finance activity occurs primarily in a third-party managed fund (i.e., the Advantage Fund).

LTIP

Burford’s long-term incentive plan for the awards of ordinary shares to employees.

Management fee

The fee earned by us from administering the private funds we manage for third-party investors.

Monetization

The acceleration of a portion of the expected value of a litigation or arbitration matter prior to resolution of such matter, which permits a client to convert an intangible claim or award into tangible cash on a non-recourse basis.

Net realized gain/loss

The sum of realized gains and realized losses.

Non-consolidated funds

Certain of our private funds that we are not required to include within our condensed consolidated financial statements but include within Group-wide data. At the date of this Interim Report, (i) BCIM Partners II, LP, (ii) BCIM Partners III, LP, (iii) BCIM Credit Opportunities, LP, (iv) BOF, (v) BAIF and (vi) BAIF II and any “sidecar” funds are non-consolidated funds.

Performance fee

The share of profits generated from funds which we manage on behalf of third-party limited partnerships. This share of profits is paid as a performance fee when the funds meet certain performance conditions.

Plaintiff

The party who institutes a legal action or claim, in particular in litigation matters.

Portfolio finance

Legal finance assets with multiple paths to realization, such as financing for a pool of litigation claims.

Post-settlement finance

Includes our financing of legal-related assets in situations where litigation has been resolved, such as financing of settlements and law firm receivables. At the date of this Interim Report, our post-settlement finance activity occurs primarily in third-party managed funds (i.e., BAIF and BAIF II).

Privileged information

Confidential information that is protected from disclosure due to the application of a legal privilege or other doctrine, including attorney work product, depending on the laws of the relevant jurisdiction.

Realization

A legal finance asset is realized when the asset is concluded (i.e., when litigation risk has been resolved). A realization will result in us receiving cash or, occasionally, non-cash assets or recognizing a due from settlement receivable, reflecting what we are owed on the asset.

Realized gain or loss

Reflects the total amount of gain or loss generated by a legal finance asset when it is realized, calculated simply as realized proceeds less deployed cost, without regard for any previously recognized fair value adjustment.

Respondent

The party against whom a civil action is brought, in particular in arbitration matters.

Single-case finance

Legal finance assets that are subject to binary legal risk, such as a single filed litigation or arbitration matter with one plaintiff or group of plaintiffs and one defendant or group of defendants.

Strategic Value Fund

BCIM Strategic Value Master Fund, LP is a limited partnership for which BCIM serves as the investment advisor and which invests in certain complex strategies assets. Investors in the Strategic Value Fund include third-party limited partnerships as well as Burford’s balance sheet. Investments in the Strategic Value Fund are recorded as capital provision-indirect assets.

Sovereign wealth fund arrangement

The agreement we have entered into with a sovereign wealth fund pursuant to which it provides funding for a portion of our legal finance assets through BOF-C.

Transfers to realizations

The amount of fair value adjustment previously recognized on an asset, which is subsequently reversed in the period when a realized gain is recognized.

Unrealized gain or loss

Represents the fair value of our assets over or under their funded cost, as determined in accordance with the requirements of the applicable US GAAP standards, for the relevant financial reporting period (condensed consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive income) or cumulatively (condensed consolidated statement of financial position).

Vintage

Refers to the calendar year in which a legal finance commitment is initially made.

YPF-related assets

Refers to our Petersen and Eton Park legal finance assets, which are two claims relating to Argentina’s nationalization of YPF S.A., the Argentine energy company.

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Financial and operational review

The following discussion and analysis of our financial and operational review should be read in conjunction with our condensed consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes thereto contained elsewhere in this Interim Report. Certain information contained in the following discussion and analysis includes forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. See “Forward-looking statements”.

The following discussion and analysis also contain a discussion of certain APMs and non-GAAP financial measures that are used by management to monitor our financial position and results of operations. These APMs and non-GAAP financial measures are supplemental and should not be considered in isolation from, or as substitutes for, our condensed consolidated financial position or results of operations as reported under US GAAP. See “Basis of presentation of financial information” for additional information with respect to APMs and non-GAAP financial measures.

In addition, because we report our results of operations under US GAAP in this Interim Report, historical data at and for the six months ended June 30, 2021 included in this Interim Report may differ from the historical data prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) as previously reported by us. See “Financial and operational review—Conversion to US GAAP” in the Annual Report for additional information with respect to the differences between US GAAP and IFRS.

Economic and market conditions

Covid-19 pandemic

Court systems and other forms of adjudication have largely returned to functionality in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, but a number of court systems face significant backlogs, delaying adjudication. Moreover, delays in adjudication also tend to lead to delays in case settlements, as parties do not feel pressure to resolve matters. Inevitably, some of our matters (and thus our cash realizations from them) have been and are likely to continue to be slowed by these dynamics. Delay in matters, however, is often profitable for us, as many of our assets have time-based terms which will increase our returns as time passes, so we consider these delays to be the deferral of income rather than its permanent diminution. We have not seen the discontinuance of any matters. Moreover, in jurisdictions with court backlogs because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the impetus to file new litigation may be diminished, unless there is an approaching limitation period, given that the litigation will not be able to move forward swiftly and spending money on the early phases of litigation could thus be postponed.

See “Risk factors—Risks related to our business and industry—Legal, political and economic uncertainty surrounding the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic could adversely affect our business, financial position, results of operations and/or liquidity” in the Annual Report.

Uncorrelated returns

Our returns are driven by judicial activity and are uncorrelated to market conditions or economic activity. The return of economic stress is likely good for us, as we tend to generate business when companies face increased liquidity challenges and other forms of uncertainty.

International sanctions on Russian businesses and individuals

The international sanctions imposed on Russian businesses and individuals continue to impact the legal industry although they have little impact on us. Our legal finance assets in jurisdictions outside Russia or Ukraine but which are against entities that might have an ultimate Russian parent or controller (regardless of sanction status) represented in the aggregate $105 million (or approximately 3.4%) of total carrying value for capital provision assets at June 30, 2022, as compared to $93 million (or approximately 3.2%) of total carrying value for capital provision assets at December 31, 2021, with the increase only occurring due to incremental investment and valuation changes in existing investments. There have been no significant changes or developments with respect to the impact of these international sanctions on our business. See “Financial and Operational Review—Sanctions” in the Annual Report for additional information with respect to these international sanctions.

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Results of operations and financial position

Set forth below is a discussion of our condensed consolidated results of operations for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021 and our condensed consolidated financial position at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, in each case, on a consolidated basis, unless noted otherwise.

See “—Reconciliations—Reconciliations of consolidated financial statements to Burford-only financial statements— Reconciliations of consolidated statements of operations to Burford-only statements of operations” for a reconciliation of our condensed consolidated results of operations for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021 from a consolidated basis to a Burford-only basis and “—Reconciliations—Reconciliations of consolidated financial statements to Burford-only financial statements—Reconciliations of consolidated statements of financial position to Burford-only statements of financial position” for a reconciliation of our condensed consolidated financial position at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021 from a consolidated basis to a Burford-only basis.

The table below sets forth our condensed consolidated statements of operations for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021.

Overview

Burford had a solid first half, with a 31% increase in capital provision income and more than a sixfold increase in operating income along with a meaningful amount of new business. Our net income was impacted by non-cash, unrealized negative impacts associated with our marketable securities and our exposure to non-US currencies and deferred taxes. Our operating expenses fell sharply given the reduced level of expense accruals that were present during the six months ended June 30, 2021, offset somewhat by higher interest expenses given the 6.250% Senior Notes

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due 2028 (the “2028 Notes”) were outstanding for the full six-month period and the issuance of the 6.875% Senior Notes due 2030 (the “2030 Notes”) in April 2022.

Statement of operations

Capital provision income

Capital provision income increased by 31% to $110 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to
$84 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. Our capital provision income was composed of (i) realized gains of $34 million (June 30, 2021: $87 million, reflecting the impact in that period of the Akhmedov resolution), (ii) fair value adjustments (net of previously recognized unrealized gains transferred to realized gains) of $81 million (June 30, 2021: less than $1 million), reflecting an increase in litigation activity in the courts, and (iii) a non-cash foreign exchange charge of $7 million (June 30, 2021: $2 million) relating to matters denominated in currencies (principally Euros) as to which we do not have a functional currency holding entity, causing those foreign exchange changes to flow through this line item. The increase in unrealized gains suggests a welcome resumption of court activity post-Covid-19 pandemic.

Asset management income

Asset management income increased by 27% to $6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to $4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. Management fees were unchanged at $4 million and performance fees, of which there were none for the six months ended June 30, 2021, were $2 million. The increase in asset management income for the six months ended June 30, 2022 was attributable to additional performance fee income recognized with respect to BAIF.

Insurance (loss)/income

The insurance loss position of $2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022 reflected both an expected decline in revenues from our legacy insurance business in run-off following its many years of excellent contribution, and the interim performance of Burford Worldwide Insurance Limited, our wholly-owned Guernsey insurer that provides insurance for legal cost shifting incurred in pursuing or defending legal proceedings.

Services income

Services income was at less than $1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021. The small decrease from the prior year period was consistent with the continuing migration of our asset recovery business from fee-for-service activity to focus on generating capital provision assets as we transition to a contingent risk model.

Marketable securities (loss)/income and bank interest

We place a portion of our cash with an institutional asset manager which actively trades such cash in short-term marketable securities, generally in the form of money market and fixed income instruments, in an effort to generate yield above that earned on cash and cash equivalents. During the period, we saw considerable volatility in debt markets leading to lower valuations for many of these investments, and we closed the half with non-cash unrealized losses of $9 million due to our fair value treatment of these securities. However, we expect this portfolio to benefit from currently higher yields and the reversal of unrealized losses as securities approach their maturity.

Gain relating to third-party interests in capital provision assets

Gain relating to third-party interests in capital provision assets increased to $1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to less than $1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. This immaterial increase reflects differential levels of capital provision asset activity.

Operating expenses

Our operating expenses fell sharply given the presence in the first half of 2021 of legacy asset recovery incentive compensation accruals that were not repeated at the same levels in 2022. We expense our operating expenses as they are incurred instead of capitalizing them as part of our capital provision portfolio. Moreover, we perform virtually all of our asset origination activities internally, using our own employees, as opposed to outsourcing due diligence or legal work. As a result, our operating expenses largely reflect our actual expenditures in cash to operate our business during the period.

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Compensation and benefits

Compensation and benefits expenses decreased by 47% to $36 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to $68 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. This decrease reflected primarily the legacy asset recovery incentive compensation accruals in the prior period; otherwise, cash compensation expense remained relatively flat period-over-period.

Equity compensation expense was $5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022 (June 30, 2021: $4 million) reflecting somewhat greater use of LTIP as a compensation tool.

Legacy and long-term incentive compensation expenses were $6 million due to non-cash accruals relating to incremental fair value changes in the period (June 30, 2021: $39 million, of which $34 million related to a large case resolution).

General, administrative and other

General, administrative and other expenses were essentially unchanged from the prior year period at just under $15 million.

Case-related expenditures ineligible for inclusion in asset cost

Case-related expenditures ineligible for inclusion in asset cost increased to $4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to $3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. This expense line will inherently vary based on deal structures and case events.

Finance costs

Finance costs increased to $37 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022 (June 30, 2021: $26 million). This increase reflected primarily the increase in our outstanding indebtedness as a result of the issuance of $360 million aggregate principal amount of the 2030 Notes in April 2022 and the full six months of finance costs on the $400 million aggregate principal amount of the 2028 Notes that were issued in April 2021, partially offset by the early redemption in full of the remaining $80 million (£62 million) aggregate principal amount of 6.500% Bonds due 2022 (the “2022 Bonds”) in May 2022.

Loss on debt extinguishment

Loss on debt extinguishment decreased to less than $1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022 (June 30, 2021: $2 million) reflecting the lower premium paid to redeem the remaining 2022 Bonds during the six months ended June 30, 2022 as compared to the premium paid in connection with the tender offer for the 2022 Bonds during the six months ended June 30, 2021. We chose to redeem the 2022 Bonds given the cash economics were more favorable than allowing the 2022 Bonds to remain outstanding until maturity.

Foreign currency transactions losses

In addition to the non-cash unrealized foreign exchange losses included in the capital provision income discussed under “—Capital provision income”, we also saw non-cash foreign currency transactions losses increase to ($3) million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to under $1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. This increased loss reflected primarily the strength of the US Dollar relative to UK Sterling exchange rates during the six months ended June 30, 2022 in relation to intercompany account balances between subsidiaries with different functional currencies and is wholly non-cash and unrealized.

(Provision for)/benefit from income taxes

There was a provision for income taxes of $8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to a tax benefit of less than $1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. This tax expense was primarily due to recording a full valuation allowance for a deferred tax asset relating to interest expense deductions. We paid cash taxes of less than $1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Net income attributable to non-controlling interests

Net income attributable to non-controlling interests increased to $25 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to $9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. This increase reflected non-controlling interests’ share of income on capital provision assets, the majority of which relates to increases in fair value of assets held by BOF-C.

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See note 2 (Summary of significant accounting policies) to our condensed consolidated financial statements and note 2 (Summary of significant accounting policies) to our consolidated financial statements contained in the Annual Report for additional information with respect to our consolidation policies.

Statement of financial position

Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities

Our liquidity position, already strong at $355 million at December 31, 2021, was even more robust at $479 million at June 30, 2022. Cash and cash equivalents were $353 million and marketable securities were $126 million, as compared to cash and cash equivalents of $180 million and marketable securities of $175 million, at December 31, 2021. This increase in cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities reflected our issuance of the 2030 Notes, partially offset by redeeming the 2022 Bonds and deployments.

Due from settlement of capital provision assets

Due from settlement of capital provision assets decreased by 21% to $68 million at June 30, 2022, as compared to $86 million at December 31, 2021. This decrease in due from settlement of capital provision assets reflected net positive collection of receivables in the normal course of business. Of the $86 million of due from settlement receivables at December 31, 2021, 56% was collected in cash during the six months ended June 30, 2022.

Capital provision assets

Capital provision assets increased by 7% to $3.1 billion at June 30, 2022, as compared to $2.9 billion at December 31, 2021. This increase in capital provision assets is principally due to additional deployments.

Segments

We have two operating business segments, (i) capital provision segment—i.e., the provision of capital to the legal industry or in connection with legal matters, both directly and through investment in our managed funds, and (ii) asset management and other services segment—i.e., the provision of services to the legal industry, including litigation insurance, and one corporate segment, (iii) other corporate. Management considers income/(loss) before income taxes as the measure of segment profitability.

The tables below set forth the components of our income/(loss) before income taxes by segment for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021.

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In the capital provision segment, we generated income before income taxes of $13 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to a loss before income taxes of $33 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. This increase reflected primarily the lower legacy asset recovery incentive compensation expense for the six months ended June 30, 2022. In the asset management and other services segment, we had income before income taxes of $4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to $8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. This decrease reflected primarily higher segment expenses, partially offset by higher income from BOF-C. In the other corporate segment, loss before income taxes increased to a loss of $31 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022,

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as compared to $4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. This increased loss reflected primarily the marketable securities loss and higher segment expenses.

Cash flows

Set forth below is a discussion of our condensed consolidated cash flows for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021 on a consolidated basis, unless noted otherwise.

The table below sets forth the components of our cash flows for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021.

Net cash used in operating activities

Net cash used in operating activities was $141 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to net cash used in operating activities of $646 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. This decrease in net cash used in operating activities reflected the receipt of net proceeds from marketable securities of $40 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022 as compared to the net funding of $250 million of marketable securities in 2021 and a decrease in funding of capital provision assets for the six months ended June 30, 2022 due to the outsized single case funded in 2021.

The table below sets forth the components of our net cash used in operating activities for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021.

Net cash used in investing activities

Net cash used in investing activities was consistent at less than $1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021.

Net cash provided by financing activities

Net cash provided by financing activities was $318 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to $515 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. This decrease in net cash provided by financing activities reflected primarily the redemption of the remaining the 2022 Bonds during the period, coupled with a reduction in third-party net capital contributions.

Debt

We have issued six series of debt securities, five of which remained outstanding at June 30, 2022 and one of which we redeemed in full prior to its scheduled August 2022 maturity during the six months ended June 30, 2022. Three series of our debt securities are listed on the Order Book for Retail Bonds of the London Stock Exchange (the “ORB”) at the date of this Interim Report, and two series of our debt securities were issued through private placement transactions under Rule 144A and Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). See “Equity and debt securities” for additional information with respect to our outstanding debt securities.

The table below sets forth certain information with respect to our debt securities at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021. Debt securities denominated in UK Sterling have been converted to US Dollars using GBP/USD exchange rates of $1.2143 at June 30, 2022 and $1.3477 at December 31, 2021.

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We manage our business with relatively low levels of leverage and have well-laddered debt maturities with an overall weighted average maturity in excess of the weighted average life of our legal finance assets. At June 30, 2022, the weighted average maturity of our outstanding debt securities of 5.4 years continued to be longer than the weighted average life of our concluded capital provision-direct assets, weighted by realizations, of 2.4 years. Our debt maturity profile is intended to mitigate any significant single-year refinancing risk.

Going forward, we expect to continue to be an opportunistic issuer of debt securities and may issue new debt securities from time to time to, among other reasons, fund our growth or refinance future debt maturities. In addition, depending on our liquidity position, we may purchase or redeem from time to time a portion of our outstanding debt securities. We redeemed in full the remaining $80 million (£62 million) aggregate principal amount of the 2022 Bonds during the six months ended June 30, 2022 and had previously purchased approximately $33 million (£24 million) aggregate principal amount of the 2022 Bonds through a tender offer during the six months ended June 30, 2021 and $5 million (£4 million) on the open market during the second half of 2021 and 2020. We chose to redeem the 2022 Bonds given the cash economics of our approach were more favorable than allowing the 2022 Bonds to remain outstanding until maturity.

Our debt securities that are listed on the ORB at the date of this Interim Report contain one significant financial covenant, which is a leverage ratio requirement that we maintain a level of consolidated net debt (debt less cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities) that is less than 50% of our consolidated tangible assets (defined as total assets less intangible assets). In addition, the indentures governing the 2028 Notes and the 2030 Notes issued through private placement transactions under Rule 144A and Regulation S under the Securities Act contain certain restrictive covenants that, among others, require us to have a Consolidated Indebtedness to Net Tangible Equity Ratio (as defined in the indenture governing the 2028 Notes or the 2030 Notes, as applicable) of less than 1.50 to 1.00, 1.75 to 1.00 or 2.00 to 1.00, as applicable, to undertake specific actions, such as make restricted payments or permitted investments or incur additional indebtedness. At June 30, 2022, we were in compliance with all of the covenants under the trust deeds and the indentures, as applicable.

With respect to the 2028 Notes, at and for the six months ended June 30, 2022, our Unrestricted Subsidiaries (as defined in the indenture governing the 2028 Notes) had total assets of $553 million, no third-party indebtedness and $31 million of total revenues. With respect to the 2030 Notes, at and for the six months ended June 30, 2022, our Unrestricted Subsidiaries (as defined in the indenture governing the 2030 Notes) had total assets of $572 million, no third-party indebtedness and $32 million of total revenues.

Liquidity

A key part of our financial management strategy involves maintaining significant liquidity. We are a growing business that typically invests in assets with an anticipated medium tenor. As a result, if our new deployments in a given period exceed realizations from prior and current periods’ assets, we will be a user of liquidity as we deploy capital into new legal finance assets. If we do not have sufficient liquidity on hand, we would need to either raise incremental funds or curtail outflows. This dynamic is typical for growing companies. However, we believe that reducing new deployments would not maximize shareholder value in the long term. Instead, we have elected to pursue a growth strategy while at

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the same time maintaining a strong liquidity position and making use of private investment funds and our strategic capital arrangement with a sovereign wealth fund.

On a consolidated basis, our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities increased by 35% to $479 million at June 30, 2022, as compared to $355 million at December 31, 2021. This increase in cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities reflected the benefit of the issuance of the 2030 Notes.

The table below sets forth our consolidated cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021.

On a Burford-only basis, our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities increased by 37% to $430 million at June 30, 2022, as compared to $315 million at December 31, 2021. On a Burford-only basis, cash and cash equivalents were $304 million and marketable securities were $126 million, for a total liquidity position of $430 million, at June 30, 2022, as compared to cash and cash equivalents of $140 million and marketable securities of $175 million, for a total liquidity position of $315 million, at December 31, 2021.

Our marketable securities consist of short-duration and generally investment-grade fixed income assets, the bulk of which are held in separately managed accounts managed by a third-party asset manager which specializes in short-duration and money market investments and trades those positions actively. Our strong liquidity position at June 30, 2022 reflects our preference to maintain liquidity balances since the timing of cash inflows in our business is somewhat unpredictable, and we typically have greater visibility into our deployments, especially those against discretionary new commitments, which we can decide not to pursue at any point. Our liquidity position enables us to continue to deploy capital into the financing of attractive new legal finance assets. However, our current liquidity position reflects our recent fundraising; we do not believe we need to maintain our liquidity at these levels on a regular basis.

We anticipate that our primary sources of funds will be available cash and cash from operations, which includes proceeds from our capital provision assets. We may also issue additional debt securities from time to time. See “—Debt” for additional information with respect to our debt securities. We believe that these sources of funds will be adequate to fund our operations and future growth, satisfy our working capital requirements, meet obligations under our debt securities, pay dividends and meet other liquidity requirements for the foreseeable future.

Cash receipts (non-GAAP financial measure)

Cash receipts provide a measure of the cash that our capital provision and other assets generate during a given period as well as cash from certain other fees and income. See “Basis of presentation of financial information—APMs and non-GAAP financial measures relating to our operating and financial performance—Non-GAAP financial measures” for additional information with respect to our cash receipts.

The following table sets forth the components of our cash receipts from operations and net cash available after general recurring activities for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021 on a Burford-only basis.

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On a Burford-only basis, our cash receipts from operations increased by 57% to $100 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to $63 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. This increase in cash receipts from operations reflected primarily realizations from our capital provision-direct assets, including cash receipts from due from settlement of capital provision assets. We have a consistent history of generating cash receipts and, therefore, have cash available for redeployment.

See “—Reconciliations—Cash receipts reconciliation” for a reconciliation of cash receipts to proceeds from capital provision assets, the most comparable measure calculated in accordance with US GAAP.

Capital expenditures

At June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, we had $2 million in carrying value relating to leasehold improvements, fixtures, fittings and equipment, computer software and hardware. Our London office lease will end in June 2023, and we are in the process of securing alternative office space in London. We did not incur any expenses in connection with this anticipated relocation during the six months ended June 30, 2022.

Contractual obligations

See note 22 (Financial commitments and contingent liabilities) to our condensed consolidated financial statements for information with respect to our contractual obligations at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021. Note 22 (Financial commitments and contingent liabilities) to our condensed consolidated financial statements does not include our undrawn financing commitments. See “—Portfolio—Undrawn commitments” for information with respect to our undrawn commitments.

Off-balance sheet arrangements

At both June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, we had off-balance sheet arrangements relating to legal finance assets with structured entities that aggregate claims from multiple parties in the amount of $6 million. See note 17 (Variable interest entities) to our condensed consolidated financial statements for additional information with respect to structured entities.

Research and development, patents and licenses, etc.

We do not spend material amounts on research and development, nor do we own any patents or licenses.

Dividends

The table below sets forth our dividend payments during the year ended December 31, 2021 and the six months ended June 30, 2022.

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At the annual general meeting held in May 2022, our shareholders approved a regular final dividend of 6.25¢ per ordinary share that was paid on June 17, 2022 to shareholders of record on May 27, 2022. On August 8, 2022, we declared an interim dividend of 6.25¢ per ordinary share, payable on December 1, 2022, to shareholders of record on November 4, 2022. As a result, the dividend paid in the year ending December 31, 2022 will be 12.50¢ per ordinary share.

We expect to maintain a total annual dividend of 12.50¢ per ordinary share in the future, with one-half payable as an interim dividend and one-half payable as a final dividend. Given the demand for our capital in the legal finance industry and the tax inefficiency of dividend payments, especially to US investors, we do not anticipate regular increases in our level of annual dividends, but rather we expect to review our level of annual dividends with shareholders and the board of directors from time to time.

Portfolio

Overview

We count each of our contractual relationships as an “asset” although many such relationships are composed of multiple underlying litigation matters that are often cross collateralized rather than reliant on the performance of a single matter. At June 30, 2022, our Burford-only portfolio consisted of 190 assets held directly and two other assets held indirectly.

At June 30, 2022, our consolidated portfolio was $4.7 billion, including deployed cost, net unrealized gain and undrawn commitments, while our Group-wide portfolio was $5.5 billion of which $3.5 billion was attributable to Burford-only. See “—Reconciliations—Portfolio reconciliations” for the reconciliations of our portfolio from a consolidated basis to a Group-wide basis.

The tables below set forth the reconciliations of our portfolio on a Burford-only basis to a Group-wide basis at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021.

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The Group-wide portfolio grew at a compound annual growth rate of 20% over the four and a half years ending June 30, 2022. The Group-wide portfolio grew by 7% during the six months ended June 30, 2022. On a Burford-only basis, capital provision assets increased by 6% to $3.5 billion at June 30, 2022, as compared to $3.3 billion at December 31, 2021.

Fair value of capital provision assets

We record capital provision assets at initial fair value, which is equivalent to deployed cost. When there is an objective event in the underlying litigation that would cause a change in fair value, we reflect the positive or negative impact of such objective event through a fair value adjustment. For the vast majority of our capital provision assets, the objective events considered under our valuation policy relate to the litigation process. When the objective event is a court ruling, we discount the potential impact of such court ruling commensurate with the remaining litigation risk. We updated our valuation policy during the six months ended June 30, 2022 to further remove discretionary ranges. The policy assigns valuation changes in prescribed percentages based on the type of case (e.g., commercial litigation or patent, geography and case milestone) which could include, among others:

When an objective milestone described in the valuation policy occurs, we apply the percentage change in valuation prescribed in the valuation policy for that milestone. The move in value, in turn, is based on our deployed costs and our contractual entitlement as follows. When a reduction in fair value is appropriate based on the valuation policy, for example if there is an adverse court ruling, we reduce the deployed cost by the percentage set forth in the valuation policy for the pertinent milestone. When an increase in fair value is appropriate based on the valuation policy, for example if there is a favorable court ruling, we apply the percentage of our expected return set forth in the valuation policy for the pertinent milestone and add that value to our deployed cost. We apply the percentage to our entire return, including any preferred return and any variable return, if a reasonable damages estimate would support sufficient proceeds to pay our return. Where there is a settlement offer or a damages finding or damages are otherwise undisputed, and that amount would be sufficient to pay our entire return, we use that amount instead of an estimate of damages to calculate the adjustment on the assumption that that amount will be available to pay our return. If the

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available amount (based on our estimate, a settlement offer, a damages finding or undisputed damages) would not be sufficient to pay our entire return, we will apply the appropriate percentage to the partial return we would expect to receive.

The aggregate carrying value of our capital provision assets was $3.1 billion at June 30, 2022. Of those capital provision assets, 23% were held at cost, 37% were valued based on market transactions and 40% were valued based on case milestones. The capital provision assets valued based on market transactions consisted entirely of the YPF-related assets. See “—Fair value of YPF-related assets” for additional information with respect to the fair value of the YPF-related assets. With respect to the 40% of capital provision assets valued based on case milestones, 77% of carrying value represented the cost basis of such capital provision assets and 23% represented the net fair value adjustment. The aggregate carrying value of our capital provision assets was $2.9 billion at December 31, 2021. Of those capital provision assets, 23% were held at cost, 40% were valued based on market transactions and 37% were valued based on case milestones. The capital provision assets valued based on market transactions consisted entirely of the YPF-related assets. With respect to the 37% of capital provision assets valued based on case milestones, 81% of carrying value represented the cost basis of such capital provision assets and 19% represented the net fair value adjustment.

On a Burford-only basis, the aggregate fair value adjustments on our capital provision-direct portfolio, excluding the YPF-related assets, was $212 million, or 14% of the aggregate carrying value excluding the YPF-related assets, at June 30, 2022, as compared to $160 million excluding the YPF-related assets, or 12% of the aggregate carrying value excluding the YPF-related assets, at December 31, 2021.

Fair value of YPF-related assets

The fair value of our YPF-related assets—our financing of the Petersen and Eton Park claims—is reflective of a robust secondary sale of a portion of the Petersen claim in June 2019. This sale was part of a $148 million placement to a number of institutional investors, of which we sold $100 million and other third-party holders sold the remaining portion. Given the size of this sale and the participation of a meaningful number of third-party institutional investors, we concluded that this market evidence should be factored into our valuation process of the YPF-related assets. Less robust trading of portions of the Petersen claim have not, and in the future may not, be factored into our valuation process of the YPF-related assets.

On a Burford-only basis, the carrying value of the YPF-related assets (both Petersen and Eton Park combined) increased to $779 million at June 30, 2022 from $777 million at December 31, 2021, due solely to ongoing legal expense spending in the YPF-related matters. Our cost basis increased by $4 million and our unrealized gain decreased by $2 million to $54 million and $725 million, respectively, because $2 million of the $4 million in costs deployed during the six months ended June 30, 2022 are recoverable. Otherwise, we did not recognize any income on the YPF-related assets for the six months ended June 30, 2022.

The tables below set forth the deployed cost, unrealized gain and carrying value of the components of our total capital provision assets at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021 on a Burford-only basis.

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Gains from capital provision-direct portfolio

On a Burford-only basis, realized gains on the capital provision-direct portfolio decreased by 65% to $27 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to $77 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, given the Akhmedov case success in 2021. We recorded $3 million in realized losses on cases concluded during the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to $5 million in realized losses on cases concluded during the six months ended June 30, 2021. As a percentage of average capital provision-direct assets at cost during the period, this represented an annualized 0.5% at June 30, 2022 compared to 0.8% for the year ended December 31, 2021.

On a Burford-only basis, unrealized gains on the capital provision-direct portfolio increased to $58 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to $11 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. This increase in unrealized gains reflects the reopening of courts and the resumption of cases. These unrealized gains were offset by $6 million in Burford-only unrealized gains on the capital provision-direct portfolio from prior periods that were transferred to realized gains during the six months ended June 30, 2022, as assets concluded and became realizations, compared to transfers of previously recognized unrealized gains of $20 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021.

Undrawn commitments

Our portfolio includes amounts deployed as well as commitments that have not been funded and, therefore, are expected to become deployments at some future date. Our undrawn commitments can be divided into two categories: discretionary and definitive. Discretionary commitments are those where we retain a considerable degree of discretion over whether to advance capital and generally would not suffer an adverse financial consequence from failing to do so. Definitive commitments are those commitments where we are contractually obligated to fund incremental capital and failure to do so would typically result in adverse contractual consequences (such as a dilution in our returns or the loss of our funded capital in a case). We have significant visibility into, and control over, our deployments, as a significant portion of our commitments is discretionary. Deployments on discretionary commitments are entirely within our control as we can decline to make the commitment if we do not want to deploy capital at that time. At June 30, 2022, our consolidated undrawn commitments were $1.6 billion, our Burford-only undrawn commitments were $1.2 billion and our Group-wide total undrawn commitments were $1.9 billion.

The tables below set forth the reconciliations of the components of our total undrawn commitments from a Burford-only basis to a Group-wide basis at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021.

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At June 30, 2022, we had $1.2 billion of Burford-only undrawn commitments, which were primarily attributable to the capital provision-direct portfolio. Other undrawn commitments are the responsibility of our private funds and other capital pools, which plan separately and have other sources of liquidity to be able to meet those undrawn commitments, typically by calling capital from their investors. Of the $1.2 billion of Burford-only undrawn commitments at June 30, 2022, $75 million was attributable to legal risk management, none of which we expect to need to fund and none of which can be drawn on any sort of accelerated basis. The remaining $1.1 billion of Burford-only undrawn commitments related to existing legal finance arrangements. As our funding commitments may not be deployed for a variety of reasons, they are considered undrawn. See note 22 (Financial commitments and contingent liabilities) to our condensed consolidated financial statements for additional information with respect to undrawn commitments.

The table below sets forth the components of our total capital provision-direct undrawn commitments at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021 on a Burford-only basis.

See “—Reconciliations—Reconciliations of consolidated financial statements to Burford-only financial statements—Reconciliations of capital provision-direct undrawn commitments” for the reconciliations of the consolidated capital provision-direct definitive and discretionary undrawn commitments and legal risk (definitive) undrawn commitments to Burford-only capital provision-direct definitive and discretionary undrawn commitments and legal risk (definitive) undrawn commitments, in each case, at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021.

We believe that we have good visibility into the timing of when definitive commitments will be drawn, partly because many of our agreements structure future draws on an explicit timetable or with reference to case events and partly because we have insight into the timing of individual legal actions. Because of the longer-term nature of such deployments, our aggregate deployments on undrawn commitments remain gradual, with a median over the last four years (which four years include activity for the six months ended June 30, 2022 annualized) of 16% of undrawn commitments at prior period end funded in the following 12 months. In addition, the incidence of settlement means that not all of our commitments will be drawn. Historically, the median deployment in the initial year from commitment was 41%, increasing to 70% by the third year. On average, we have deployed 86% of our commitments on fully and partially concluded matters, although it can take many years to reach that level.

Portfolio concentrations

The claims underlying our capital provision-direct assets are generally diverse, as are our relationships with corporate and law firm clients.

The table below sets forth the respective percentages of our commitments to corporate, law firm and other clients at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021 on a Group-wide basis.

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At June 30, 2022, our largest commitment to a corporate position on a Group-wide basis was $350 million ($213 million on a Burford-only basis), which accounted for 8% of our Group-wide commitments (8% on a Burford-only basis) and represented hundreds of underlying cases. This commitment has a structure that would make a complete loss of our capital highly unlikely.

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Our largest relationship with a single law firm consisted of (i) financing arrangements between us and the law firm, where the law firm seeks to monetize the risk that the law firm has taken with some of its clients, (ii) direct financing arrangements with counterparties that elect to hire the law firm where our financing funds the law firm’s legal fees and (iii) direct financing arrangements with counterparties that have hired the law firm but where our financing is used for other corporate purposes than for funding the law firm’s fees. This law firm is one of the 50 largest law firms in the United States based on revenue according to The American Lawyer, with more than 500 lawyers and more than 20 offices around the world. At June 30, 2022, our portfolio of matters with this law firm included over 35 different litigation matters handled by more than 65 different partners in 15 different offices. Taken together, at June 30, 2022, these arrangements accounted for approximately $367 million on a Group-wide basis ($220 million on a Burford-only basis), or 8% of our Group-wide commitments (7% on a Burford-only basis) (December 31, 2021: 9% Group-wide, 9% Burford-only).

Portfolio tenor

The timing of realizations is difficult to forecast and is rarely a matter that we control. The reality of litigation is that a majority of cases settle and pay proceeds in a relatively short period of time, and a minority of cases goes on to adjudication, which takes longer. Adjudication timing is subject to a myriad of factors, including delaying tactics by litigation opponents and court dockets and schedules, and the Covid-19 pandemic has added to this uncertainty. We believe that the Covid-19 delaying of trial dates also has caused a delay in settlement timing, as an impending trial often can be a catalyst for a settlement. We do not believe there is a correlation between asset life and asset quality and generally structure our asset pricing to compensate us if assets take longer to resolve.

We provide extensive data about the weighted average life (“WAL”) of our concluded portfolio; however, this data may not be predictive of the ultimate WAL of our existing portfolio. The WAL of our concluded cases may lengthen over time if the longer-tenor assets in our existing portfolio account for a greater share of future concluded cases. Conversely, if our larger, more recently originated cases conclude relatively quickly, the WAL of our concluded cases could decrease. The partial realization of one of our largest investments is likely to reduce the overall WAL.

In calculating our portfolio WAL, we compute a weighted average of the individual asset WALs. On that basis, we assess the weighted average lives (beginning at the point of average deployment) of the concluded capital provision-direct portfolio, weighted both by deployed cost and realizations. Weighting by deployed cost provides a view on how long on average a dollar of capital is deployed, while weighting by realizations provides a view on how long on average it takes to recover a dollar of return.

The WALs (weighted by deployments and realizations) of the Burford-only concluded portfolio lengthened very modestly at June 30, 2022 to 2.0 years and 2.4 years, respectively, as compared to 1.9 years and 2.3 years at December 31, 2021, respectively.

The table below sets forth the WALs weighted by deployments and realizations of the concluded portfolio at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021 on a Burford-only basis.

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Returns on concluded portfolio

At June 30, 2022, concluded assets in our Burford-only capital provision-direct portfolio had generated, on a cumulative basis, an ROIC of 92% and an IRR of 30% since our inception.

The table below sets forth our ROIC, IRR and cumulative realizations since inception at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021 on a Burford-only basis.

We do not believe it makes sense to exclude our highest-returning assets from our return metrics in a business where we are currently originating new assets with the potential to generate outsized returns. Nonetheless, we have in the

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past provided our returns data excluding our Petersen realizations and, at June 30, 2022, excluding proceeds from our sales of Petersen participations, our capital provision-direct ROIC since inception would have been 70% and our IRR 24% (December 31, 2021: ROIC: 70% and IRR: 24%).

We do not consider cases to be concluded (and therefore part of these returns on concluded portfolio statistics) until there is no longer any litigation risk remaining. Our returns on concluded portfolio statistics do not include fair value adjustments, either positive or negative. As a result, these return figures do not include the impact, positive or negative, of developments on matters while they remain pending.

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Summary of capital provision-direct portfolio

The table below sets forth a summary by vintage of every asset that we have funded in our capital provision-direct portfolio at June 30, 2022 since our inception on a Burford-only basis.