Growth investments

As regulations such as the Dodd Frank Act and Basel III were implemented, financial institutions were largely restricted from trading proprietary capital. As a result, many of the most talented investors launched private investment vehicles to continue implementing their strategies. As equity markets reached historically high levels in 2016 the Merus team began to search for non-beta driven sources of returns. Under this mandate Merus has sourced growth-oriented investment strategies that are not specifically dependent on the direction of public markets.

Our investment opportunities encompass a wide range of underlying strategies and while each strategy is unique they have some shared characteristics:

1.    Asymmetric return profiles

2.   Managed volatility

3.   Mid-teen and above return targets

4.   Unique sources of alpha

Income Investments

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, traditional lending services tightened and became even more inefficient. Private lending firms seized upon the opportunity and stepped further into the market to fill the void. The team at Merus has successfully sourced and invested with multiple strategies that operate in various industries within private credit.

Having thoroughly analyzed and assessed the respective industries related to these strategies, we maintain focus on metrics such as relative collateral, default rates and recovery scenarios. Peers are evaluated in order to ensure that we have selected the most appropriate investment option for our clients. Peer reviews continue throughout the life of the investment for the same purpose.

We believe our private credit funds have attractive characteristics such as low volatility returns, a capital preservation focused mandate, strong collateral, transparency and diverse strategies. Relative to today's traditional markets of stocks and bonds, private credit opportunities provide investors the potential to avoid market risk while generating high levels of current income.