In a remarkable turn of events, investors in litigation finance firm Burford Capital (BUR:AIM) have seen their shares rocket from a 12-month low to a two-year high in less than two days of trading.

At 4.14pm on 31 March, Burford issued a statement to say the Southern District Court of New York had ruled in favour of its clients in a long-running dispute with the Argentine government.

Burford shares jumped 30% to 754p and added another 200p on 3 April for a two-day gain of 65%.

The firm financed claims by two of its clients, Peterson and Eton Park, that the Argentine government’s forced nationalisation in 2012 of former state-owned oil company YPF breached its 1993 listing agreement, which said YPF wouldn’t be nationalised or, if it was, the government would tender for the shares at a high level.

YPF was listed in Buenos Aires and New York, and the case has been going through the US courts for over a decade.

The decision by the US judge means Burford’s clients could share compensation of between $5 billion and $8.4 billion before interest, according to a press release.

While the company didn’t say how much it expected to earn from backing the case, analyst Julian Roberts at investment bank Jefferies believes it could be close to 40% of any settlement.

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