Globalisation of everything from popcorn to pop music might have been with us for years, but it is the global arm of US class action that is now coming into focus. The legislation is increasingly reaching east across the Atlantic, to attract growing attention from aggrieved European Union investors.

In fact, this “business” now looks unstoppable, ac-cording to Adam Savett, director of the securities class action division at RiskMetrics Group. He says the number of international cases in train is rising, with 182 instances of international institutional investors seeking to lead cases from 1996 to March 2007.