Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Burford Capital Ltd., the litigation fund chaired by Peter Middleton, raised 80 million pounds ($130 million) in an initial public offering, less than half of the maximum amount sought.

Invesco Ltd. bought about 45 percent of the stock on offer and Fidelity International Ltd. about 10 percent, Christopher Bogart, who will help run Burford, said in an interview today. Middleton, a former Barclays Plc chairman, had sought as much as 200 million pounds in the IPO.

The sale is still the second-biggest offering in London this year. Burford will spend the money over the next two years sponsoring commercial claims in the U.S, according to Bogart. The Guernsey, Channel Islands-based firm will target an internal rate of return of 30 percent by investing $5 million to $15 million at a time.

“This is an emerging and rapidly growing asset class,” said Bogart. “There’s pent-up demand for investments on a lot of good cases.”

Burford sold 80 million shares at 100 pence apiece. The shares are due to begin trading on London’s Alternative Investment Market on Oct. 21. Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller LLC managed the IPO, along with Execution Ltd.

The biggest London IPO this year is Max Property Group Plc’s 220 million-pound offering in May, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elisa Martinuzzi in Milan at emartinuzzi@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 16, 2009 05:20 EDT