Merricks Capital

Adrian Redlich, the founder and Chief Investment Officer, is the key decision-maker on investment origination and credit approvals. He established the firm in 2014 after a career at Goldman Sachs and has built a dedicated underwriting team in Melbourne. The firm’s credit committee structure is tight, reflecting a founder-driven, high-conviction lending culture.

Merricks focuses on asset-backed lending to sectors underserved by Australian banks. Its core specialties are agricultural loans secured by farmland and water entitlements, commercial real estate development debt, and senior lending to renewable energy projects. The firm explicitly targets deals where it can take first-ranking security over hard assets.

In June 2023, Ares Management acquired a strategic minority stake in Merricks Capital. The partnership provides Merricks with permanent capital backing, distribution reach to Ares' global institutional client base, and operational resources, while Merricks retains its independent investment process and brand under Adrian Redlich's continued leadership (per Bloomberg, 2023).

Merricks originates and underwrites its own loans directly — it does not operate as a fund-of-funds or make LP commitments to external managers. All underlying exposures are self-originated bilateral or syndicated loans held within Merricks' managed fund vehicles, primarily the Merricks Capital Partners Fund.

The Merricks Capital Partners Fund has delivered annualized returns in the high single-digits to low double-digits, net of fees, since its 2014 launch, with a historical focus on capital preservation and quarterly income distribution. The precise performance data is restricted to qualified investors in the firm's data room, but the track record spans multiple agricultural cycles and the COVID-era dislocation.