Merrick McKay

Head of Private Equity at abrdn

Speaker

Merrick heads the European Private Equity team within abrdn, and is based in its Edinburgh and London offices. With European AuM of €8bn, abrdn’s private equity activities include making primary commitments, secondary fund investments and co-investments for clients and pooled funds, undertaken by a European team of 25 investment professionals. Merrick sits on the Investment Committee for all European mandates as well as the overall Portfolio Construction & Management Committee, and is responsible for relationship management with a number of key clients.

Merrick is a member of Invest Europe’s Limited Partner Council, an Advisory Board member of numerous funds, and a regular speaker at private equity conferences.

An Australian, Merrick has worked in the European private equity industry for 28 years. Prior to joining SL Capital, now part of abrdn, in 2014, Merrick was Head of European Investments and Senior Partner of Macquarie’s Private Markets division. Previous roles include: 13 years as a Partner and Investment Committee member of Primary Capital (the London-based, mid-market private equity firm) where he was responsible for leading, originating and managing numerous private equity investments in the UK; and 5 years at a corporate finance boutique providing lead advice for a number of European private equity investments.

Merrick holds Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of Queensland.