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Mercury adds US secondaries advisory exec

The adviser and placement agent sees a growing opportunity in the US lower middle market, particularly in preferred equity.

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Mercury Capital Advisors has brought a new hire over from the West Coast to join its New York secondaries advisory business.

The adviser and placement agent has appointed Vik Salh vice-president of secondaries, according to his LinkedIn profile. Salh joins from Davis, California-headquartered advisory shop Upwelling Capital, where he spent six years.

Mercury’s London-headquartered head of secondaries Sabina Sammartino told Secondaries Investor that the firm will make more hires in the US in response to an uptick in lower mid-market dealflow, particularly in the preferred equity space.

“Given where we are in the market, in terms of volatility and the potential gap in pricing expectations between buyers and sellers, preferred equity is an elegant way of bridging that gap,” she said. “It’s something we are very much aware of and think is going to be a good opportunity in the coming months.”

Earlier this week, Secondaries Investor reported that Mercury advised on a preferred equity deal centred on European special situations manager Springwater Capital. Morningside Capital Management and LSV Advisors provided capital to help the GP take advantage of opportunities brought about by market dislocation.

Volatile public markets are making it more difficult to value private assets, leading to greater risk aversion among buyers and an increase in the number of secondaries deals stalling and being repriced, Secondaries Investor reported.

Mercury Capital was acquired by Bahrain-headquartered investment firm Investcorp in 2019. In addition to its secondaries business, it has been a regular placement agent for GPs such as Coller Capital and Asia-focused growth investor Anchor Equity Partners.