Third-party funding is key to help companies cope with long, costly and complex enforcement proceeding
At the panel hosted by Ramco Litigation Funding, global sponsor of the Arbitration Open, which began on 7 May in Madrid 2025, our speakers included our CEO Cristina Soler, Emma Morales, Partner in the Arbitration Department at Simmons & Simmons, Lourdes Martínez de Victoria, State Attorney, Deputy in the International Arbitration Department, Kingdom of Spain, Carlos Iso, Head of Arbitration at SACYR, Damián Vallejo, Partner at Dunning Rievman & Macdonald LLP in New York, and as moderator, Maribel Rodríguez, Legal Manager at ACCIONA.
The moderator, Maribel Rodríguez, opened by explaining the challenges and opportunities presented by award enforcement proceedings.
The companies expressed their concern about the slowness of the processes, the cost and the need to find instruments such as Third Party Funding to help deal with these complex arbitrations with high enforcement risks.
Carlos Iso, Head of Arbitration at SACYR, commented: “the need to prepare in advance so that once an award has been obtained, there are better options for successfully enforcing the award”.
Emma Morales, Arbitration Partner at Simmons & Simmons, analysed the most relevant trends affecting international arbitration and, in particular, the enforcement of awards, and shared her professional experiences in choosing the right fund to monetise awards.
Lourdes Martínez de Victoria, State Attorney, Deputy in the Department of International Arbitration, Kingdom of Spain, highlighted the importance of legal practitioners taking into account the European Commission’s Decision of 24 March 2025, as well as the change in trend among arbitral tribunals when assessing their lack of jurisdiction to hear investment disputes between European investors and Member States of the European Union.
Damián Vallejo, Partner at Dunning Rievman & Macdonald LLP, spoke of the benefits that can be derived from using US courts to recognise and enforce awards in that country and the assistance that such courts can provide in award enforcement proceedings in other jurisdictions.
According to Cristina Soler, CEO of Ramco Litigation Funding, “The financier provides not only flexible financial solutions, but also specialised knowledge in arbitration financing,” adding that “working with a financial partner with extensive experience in arbitration adds significant value in these types of cases, particularly in terms of strategy and enforcement of the award.”
It should be noted that one of the challenges presented by this type of arbitration is the enforcement of arbitral awards, which can lead to multi-jurisdictional proceedings that are highly complex and lengthy, especially when dealing with sophisticated defendants such as sovereign states.
A successful arbitration award is not usually the end of the arbitration process. Claimants who have obtained a satisfactory arbitration award may need additional support to pursue the annulment and/or enforcement phases until final collection.
One of the most popular structures is award monetisation. This involves assigning or selling part or all of the award, and therefore the risk of enforcement, to the financier in exchange for a price.
This type of financing offers claimants the security of being able to accelerate enforcement immediately after a favourable award, while assuming part of the risk of possible annulment and/or enforcement proceedings.
The involvement of an experienced funder can be crucial to ensuring successful enforcement.
