Mercury Capital Advisors (“Mercury”), among the world’s elite global private fund placement and advisory firms, today announced that it has appointed Michael Ricciardi, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of the Firm as Chairman Emeritus. In his new role, Mr. Ricciardi will focus on business development and sourcing new client mandates.

Mr. Ricciardi founded Mercury Capital Advisors in 2009 along with two of his partners as a spinoff from the Merrill Lynch Private Equity Funds Group. Since its inception and under his leadership, Mercury has completed more than 125 fundraising, secondary advisory, co-investment and direct deal placements across multiple alternative asset classes, closed over $100bn in fund commitments, and became a prominent global placement and advisory firm.

Mr. Ricciardi said: “I look forward to the next phase in my career with great anticipation and excitement. I am enthusiastic about contributing to Mercury’s growth as it continues to deliver exceptional fundraising and advisory solutions to our clients.”

Mr. Ricciardi will retire from the executive management and operations of the Firm to focus on his new role, while the day-to-day management will be handled by the Firm’s Managing Partners John Franklin and Enrique Cuan.

Mr. Franklin and Mr. Cuan, commenting on Mr. Ricciardi’s transition, said: “The Firm has greatly benefitted from Mr. Ricciardi’s passion for helping clients grow their franchises and we look forward to continuing to leverage his network to develop new opportunities and relationships for the Firm in the future.”

This announcement comes as the Firm posted very strong first half results on the back of advising on several fund closings year to date, including those of Ocean Link, MML, Valor, Gaw, Blue Torch and Investcorp. Building upon this momentum, last week the Firm announced that it has hired four senior distribution professionals. In addition to these senior hires, it also strengthened its team by adding eight other staff in recent months across different functions, including distribution, administration and project management.

About Mercury Capital Advisors:

Mercury Capital Advisors is a leading global private fund and investment advisory firm. Founded in 2009 as a spinoff from the Merrill Lynch Private Funds Group, the firm assists general partners and limited partners in fundraising and secondary advisory, co-investment and direct deal placement. The firm specializes in alternative assets including private equity, real estate, infrastructure, credit, venture capital, secondaries and special situations investments. Mercury has advised on over 100 fundraisings and closed over $100bn in fund commitments since its inception in 2009.

With offices in New York, London, Singapore, Tokyo and New Delhi, the firm maintains strong relationships with a broad range of the world’s pre-eminent institutional investors, including sovereign wealth funds, corporate and public pension plans, insurance companies, endowments, family offices, foundations, secondary funds, funds of funds and consultants.

Mercury Capital Advisors is a 100% owned subsidiary of Investcorp, a global investment manager specializing in alternative investments across private equity, real estate, credit, absolute return strategies, GP stakes and infrastructure. As of March 31, 2021, Investcorp Group had US $35.4 billion in total AUM, including assets managed by third-party managers, and employed over 430 people from 45 nationalities globally across its offices in 12 countries spanning the US, Europe, GCC and Asia.

Source: BusinessWire