Calunius Capital has raised a £40m fund to invest in commercial litigation in a move that will see the specialist funding broker turn investor.

The Guernsey-incorporated fund launched at the end of last year as Calunius Litigation Risk Fund and will seek to invest the money across 30 commercial litigation and arbitration cases above £3m in value.

Calunius had intended to launch a fund for some time but faced obstacles due to the economic conditions. The money was raised last year through a number of institutional investors and has a six-year lifespan. The fund has already signed up three cases.

Calunius will focus on investing in countries including the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Australia and various offshore jurisdictions, but it has ruled out any investment into the US.

Calunius was one of the first brokers to enter the UK third-party litigation funding market in 2007 when it was set up by two former investment bankers, Mark Wells and Mick Smith, to act as a specialist adviser and intermediary in litigation and general disputes.

Smith commented: "One of our great advantages is that we are coming into this on the back of everything we did before. So we are well-known in the market and have a pipeline of cases in which we are already investing. This means we have hit the ground running."