Australia's Mercury targets $595m for Fund IV

The fundraising process has already begun, with the hard cap provisionally set at AUD 1bn, according to a source close to the situation. Mercury confirmed the hard cap and indicated the vehicle would be known as Fund twenty2. It offered no further comment.

The firm closed its third fund at the hard cap of AUD 600m in 2018 after an approximately four-week process. The LP base has become more institutional over time. Mercury sourced almost the entire AUD 120m Fund I corpus from family offices and high net worth individuals (HNWIs). Institutional investors were introduced in Fund II, which closed on AUD 300m in 2015.

Mercury was established in 2010 by Clark Perkins, who previously led the merchant banking division at Goldman Sachs JBWere and served as executive chairman of the firm’s private equity funds. He remains CEO of the Mercury management entity and runs the firm with three partners, Ben Hawter, Chris Criddle, and Oliver Tompkins.

Healthcare features prominently in Mercury’s historical portfolio and accounts for some of its biggest exits. The firm generated a 15.7x multiple on the sale of clinical trials provider Novotech to TPG Capital in 2017 and a 3.5x multiple on Nexus Day Hospitals, which was picked up by QIC in 2019.

In Fund III, however, business and professional services are a more prevalent theme. The portfolio features enterprise software developer Squiz, customer engagement software provider MessageMedia, architecture business Architectus, landscape services player Green Options.

Mercury is also invested in Are Media – a carve-out of Bauer Media’s Australia and New Zealand publishing assets – ticketing and events promotion platform TEG – alongside majority owner Silver Lake – recycling business ResourceCo, and wealth manager E&P Financial Group.

Other mid-cap Australian private equity firms currently in the market include Allegro Funds, which hit a first close of AUD 600m on its fourth fund at the end of last year, CPE Capital, which is seeking up to AUD 900m for its fifth buyout vehicle, and IFM Investors, which wants to raise around AUD 1bn for a long-dated fund.

At the upper end of the spectrum, BGH Capital closed its second fund on AUD 3.6bn earlier this year.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Fundraising
• GPs
• Buyout
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Mercury Capital