I don't invest directly outside of Aus so the Burford share...

I don't invest directly outside of Aus so the Burford share price doesn't bother me too much (it's not in my opportunity set given UK listing), but it is frustrating to see the gap between the two. The two companies were basically in the same spot 6-7 years ago - one has since made painstakingly slow but gradual progress, while the other has dramatically (and profitably) expanded and now completely dominates the entire sector.

The only thing i'm hanging my hat on is that it can go vertical very quickly - Burford committed ~$50m in 2013 on $20m overhead - so they were doing even worse than IMF currently is only 4 years ago. They started going vertical in 2014 once they became almost capital unconstrained and got into portfolio business and complex strategies lending, which are far larger opportunities and obviously better business than the single case strategy IMF is still largely stuck on (simply because vastly more capital can be deployed).