Mercury Asset Management

Mercury Asset Management plc

Industry	Investment management
Fate	Acquired
Successor	Merrill Lynch
Founded	1969
Defunct	1997
Headquarters	London, UK
Key people	Hugh Stevenson (Chairman), Carol Galley (Vice-Chairman), Stephen Zimmerman (Deputy Chairman)
Employees	1,300

Mercury Asset Management plc was a leading British investment management business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

History

The Company was established in 1969 when S. G. Warburg & Co., the investment bank, won an investment management contract and set up Warburg Investment Management to execute it. In 1987 25% of the business was floated on the London Stock Exchange as Mercury Asset Management.

Carol Galley, one its leading managers, was credited with facilitating the takeovers by Granada of both London Weekend Television in 1994 and Forte Group in 1996.^[1] At its peak more than half the companies on the FTSE 100 used Mercury Asset Management for investment management purposes.^[2]

In 1995 the Company achieved full independence when S. G. Warburg & Co. sold its investment banking business to Swiss Bank Corporation and the residue of S. G. Warburg & Co. became a subsidiary of Mercury Asset Management.^[3] The Company was acquired by Merrill Lynch for £3.1bn in 1997.^[4]

References

1. ^ City legend goes with a fortune: will she return? Guardian, 29 March 2001
2. ^ Merrill Lynch and Mercury Asset Management Combine to Create One of the World's Largest Fund Management Groups Merrill Lynch, 19 November 1997
3. ^ Warburgs re-organisation
4. ^ Merrill cleared to buy British Fund Manager New York Times, 24 December 1997

Further reading

• Peter Stormonth Darling, The Life & Times of Mercury Asset Management, Texere, 2000 ISBN 978-1587990359