Proactive specialist asset management
We provide venture, private equity or debt finance to regional businesses with growth ambition.
Investment only gets you so far
Growing and investing in a business is about asking the right questions; what risks are you prepared to take, what are your expectations in terms of control, support and growth? And what does success look like?
“We aim to be the first-choice provider of capital across our specialist private capital classes for businesses that typically seek less than £10million.”
Mercia is a proactive specialist asset manager with a focus on regional businesses seeking venture, private equity or debt finance to scale their businesses.
We are exclusively a UK domestic investor, with focus on the UK regions.
Investment that goes beyond just finance
Our story
Hear from Mercia’s CEO, Dr Mark Payton, who provides an update on the Mercia journey explaining how the group invests managed funds alongside its own cash and outlines the acquisition of the Northern VCT contracts.
Our history
Mercia can trace its roots back to the 1980s and over recent years has enjoyed a period of impressive growth. We are proud of our journey so far and excited about the future ahead.
Realising value
Warwick Acoustics
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The team
David Roberts – Chair
Mike Grant – CEO
Voxpopme
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The team
Lonnie Mayne – Chair
David Carruthers – CEO
David Gales – NED
The Native Antigen Company
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The team
Steven Powell – Executive Chair
Nick Roesen – COO
sureCore
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The team
Paul Wells – Chief Executive Officer
Tony Stansfield – Chief Technical Officer
Business model
Mercia’s investments across its four asset classes are powering ambitious regional SMEs with the capital that they need to grow. Our business model is designed specifically to support the funding needs of companies through their journey from origin to exit.
Mercia by numbers
c.£1billion
Portfolio co-investment
Portfolio co-investment
1000+
Transactions in the last five years
Transactions in the last five years
c.£176million
Returned to fund investors
Returned to fund investors
c.400
Portfolio companies
Portfolio companies
A differentiated focus
We were founded on deploying capital to the regions. London and the South East has a significant oversupply of capital creating high pre-money valuations. The UK regions offer exciting deals with businesses that are priced sensibly and have relatively modest capital needs that we can, if we chose to, support solely from our own means.
The best teams
Get this right and a business will grow. People are the centre of everything that we do, whether it’s strengthening the industry-leading management teams that we invest in, or developing and collaborating with our colleagues, we strive to live our values and bring our best game to work every day.
Deep experience
Our specialist approach delivers deep domain knowledge, not just about our sectors, but equally, the regions in which we do business. This specialism matters to our portfolio because this knowledge-driven approach drives our investment success.
Mercia platform
Mercia’s Platform provides access to high-quality business leaders, advisory teams and operational specialists to offer transformative support to help our portfolios’ leadership teams architect their success.
Capital runway
Mercia has c.£800million of assets under management with just under half being unrestricted free cash to invest over the next two to five years.
We also have powerful relationships and a deeply embedded ecosystem to provide access to a wealth of opportunities to leverage co-investment and the syndication that takes businesses to the finishing post.
Investment strategy
Scale, profitability and investment returns
Our approach to investing has evolved over many years and is predicated on the cyclical nature of private capital deployment in the regions, where optimised returns are driven through deep industry experience and buying well through the cycle.
How we do it
Source well
Optimised returns are driven through deep industry experience and powerful partnerships that drives deal origination that allows Mercia to see 60% of deals in the regions.
Buy well
We are focused on investing in the highest quadrant of businesses that have appropriate pre-money valuation. We tailor the deal structure to ensure that we can bring our complete connected capital solution into play and we recognise leadership teams that we can support in achieving the commercial drivers of value creation.
Support well
Through focused investment and platform capabilities we have the full breadth of knowledge and networks to advance our portfolio companies.
Sell well
Our ability to provide follow-on funding and capital for acquisitions supports optimum exits and timely realisations.
Our guide to marketing in the Digital Age
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Support during COVID-19
Our teams have produced a series of webinars providing valuable advice on business change during the pandemic
Watch them here
