Industry Investment management Defunct 1997 Founded 1969 Number of employees 1,300 | Fate Acquired Headquarters London Successor Merrill Lynch Ceased operations 1997 | |
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Key people Hugh Stevenson (Chairman), Carol Galley (Vice-Chairman), Stephen Zimmerman (Deputy Chairman) | ||
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 of its leading managers, was credited with facilitating the takeovers by Granada of both London Weekend Television in 1994 and Forte Group in 1996. At its peak more than half the companies on the FTSE 100 used Mercury Asset Management for investment management purposes.
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. The Company was acquired by Merrill Lynch for £3.1bn in 1997.