Our People

Adrian is the founder of Merricks Capital and is responsible for the overall running of the business and is a Group director and Chairman of the Investment Committee.

During the last decade Adrian has leveraged his 25+ years of market experience to drive the creation and strategic market timing for Merricks Capital’s entry into various investment strategies including credit & private lending, Asian long/short equity, commodity trading and direct investments in hard assets.

Prior to founding Merricks Capital in 2007, Adrian worked at Citadel Investment Group (Chicago) from 2005 to 2007, as the Head of Quantitative Alpha Generation, Global Equities. The Alpha Generation team was primarily responsible for the evolution and refinement of the investment process of Citadel’s Global Equities & Derivative Portfolio. The global equities group ran the world’s largest fundamental long/short market neutral portfolio.

Between 2000 and 2005, Adrian was a Director at Merrill Lynch (New York & Hong Kong), where he was Head of the Global Valuation and Analytics Group. Adrian also held the position as the Head of Pension and Endowment Strategy & Research. The Pension and Endowment Strategy team focussed on asset allocation, liability hedging, portable alpha strategies and other investment strategies primarily for US based pension plans and endowments.

Prior to this, Adrian was a Vice President at Merrill Lynch (Melbourne) where he worked initially as a commodities and mining analyst and then an equity market strategist from 1993 to 2000.

Adrian holds a Bachelor of Economics from Monash University (1994). He also completed the Quantum Financial Services (Australia) Diploma of Financial Services (2007) and the National Association of Securities Dealers (USA) Series 3, & 7.

Andrew Torrington is a Group director of Merricks Capital and is responsible for Merricks Capital’s overall investment portfolio including strategy, capital allocation, investor relations, capital raising, origination, execution and management of investments. Andrew is Chairman of the Credit Committee and a director of the Investment Committee.

Andrew has over 30 years’ experience in the property industry across finance, construction, property development, retail and professional services. Prior to joining Merricks Capital in 2017, Andrew was COO and Group Director of Probuild Constructions and WBHO Infrastructure where led a significant organisational change management program and implemented strategies across the Group to substantially improve profitability.

Prior to this Andrew was CEO at The Pacific Group of Companies for 5 years, a high net worth Australian private family, responsible for overseeing the Group’s activities including the property ownership, property development and property financing businesses. He also worked with the private family to significantly restructure and corporatise the Group. Prior to this Andrew was CEO of ASX listed Verticon Group where he was responsible for the operations of the AUS and NZ equipment hire and labour hire business, the creation of a property development business and the eventual restructure and sale of the company.

Prior to this Andrew spent 10 years with Multiplex Constructions where he held several executive roles specialising in strategy, finance, corporate restructure and business performance improvement. In 1999 he spent 3 years with Multiplex in London establishing the European business. He was also heavily involved in the growth of the construction and development divisions in Australia and New Zealand and the Multiplex IPO in 2003.

Andrew holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and Master of Business (MBA).

As Merricks Capital’s General Counsel and Company Secretary, Anne has oversight of the internal legal function and corporate governance of the business. Her legal role encompasses a full spectrum of legal, risk and compliance services and provides advice and support to ensure good governance. As a Board member, Anne works within the Merricks Capital leadership team to implement sound legal practices to ensure the operations of the organisation comply with the laws in which the firm has interests.

Anne returned to Melbourne in 2018 after 20 years in London, and brings a wealth of international financial services experience. As a Partner of international law firms, Conyers Dill & Pearman and Walkers, Anne’s most recent roles in London saw her advising predominantly on Cayman Islands matters relevant to investment funds, from the inception of hedge and private equity fund structures to advising on their corporate transactions and financings, corporate governance issues as well as restructuring and distressed and liquidation scenarios. She also assisted clients with shareholder and investor communications and relations generally.

Prior to the development of her investment funds practice, Anne gained extensive experience of a wide range of asset finance and structured finance, from her time at Clifford Chance in London, as well as corporate and commercial matters, including debt listings, corporate restructuring, share sale and purchase transactions, corporate migrations and mergers. Anne’s clients in London were leading financial institutions, asset managers, private equity houses, family offices and multi-national corporations.

Prior to her time in London, Anne lived and studied in Melbourne, and holds a Bachelor of Laws and Arts (BA LLB) from The University of Melbourne.

As Chief Financial Officer, Sandra is responsible for the finance and operations function including investment operations, loan administration, business finance, taxation and information technology.

Sandra is a Chartered Accountant with 14 years of finance and corporate service experience. Prior to joining Merricks Capital, Sandra held the Group CFO role at a large workforce and training solutions group, IntoWork Australia, where she was responsible for finance, IT, property, risk, insurance, health and safety, procurement and payroll. Prior to IntoWork, Sandra was CFO at Australia Energy Market Operator (AEMO) in a landscape of global energy transformation. Sandra also spent 5 years at Pitcher Partners within Audit and Assurance with an industry portfolio of clients in financial services, agriculture, legal, and consumer goods. Sandra has international experience working in Toronto, Canada with Pitchers affiliated network firm, in financial services.

Sandra holds a Graduate diploma of Chartered Accounting (CA), is a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) and Bachelor of Computing from Monash University.

Sandra is passionate about contributing back to the community, and is a Non-executive director and Chair of the Finance Committee for Glen Eira Kindergarten Association (GEKA). Sandra also mentors young Chartered Accountants completing their diplomas.

Paul is Head of Capital for Merricks Capital and is a member of the senior management team. As Head of Capital, Paul is responsible for investors and distribution of investment vehicles across all investor channels.

Paul has a 25-year career across investment banking, capital markets and asset management. Prior to joining Merricks Capital, Paul was the co-founding partner of Vantage Point Asset Management, a Singapore-based macro hedge fund where he was responsible for the business strategy, product, investment and operations teams.

Prior to Vantage Point, Paul was a director of Prime Services distribution at Barclays Singapore from 2010 to 2015. He was also a Director at Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong and Sydney, where he was Co-Head responsible for Prime Services distribution and relationship management across Asia Pacific. In both roles, Paul was responsible for growing the securitised lending for cross asset product, capital introductions, Asian investors, electronic trading/execution platforms, trading, operations, legal requirements and regulatory obligations.

Paul has also had significant roles at UBS in Sydney where he was responsible for platform development and account management, institutional operations and other prime services functions and commenced his career at Ernst & Young.

David is responsible for Chairing the Risk, Audit and Compliance Committee together with traditional Director duties. In addition to his technical skills, David brings a strong track record in people leadership including being voted CEO of the year in 2019 and is widely acclaimed as a people person. 

Prior to Merricks Capital, from 2016 till early 2020 David was the inaugural Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of MLC Life Insurance as the business moved to become a stand-alone Australian Life Insurance company under the majority ownership of Nippon Life Insurance.

Prior to joining MLC Life Insurance, David was Executive General Manager Insurance for NAB’s wealth management business: responsible for managing distribution, product, claims, operations and the actuarial function for the Life Insurance business which serviced Retail, Bancassurance, Direct and Group Insurance customers across NAB and MLC Wealth. He was Executive General Manager of Retail Wealth Products from 2013-2016, CFO Products and Markets in 2013 and CFO Wholesale Banking from 2010-2013.

Prior to joining NAB David ran a consultancy business for 2 years upon returning from Japan, with Cerberus Capital as his major client. David spent 10 years in Japan culminating in 4 years as CFO of Aozora Bank Ltd (formerly Nippon Credit Bank), where the major shareholder was Cerberus, the US based private equity fund. During this time, he led the project to re-list the bank on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2006, culminating in Japan’s second largest IPO: he remains the only ever Australian CFO of a listed Japanese Bank. He spent 5 years at Nikko Citigroup Japan as a Managing Director of Finance and was CFO of UBS Japan, after establishing a regional Program Office based in Singapore for SBC Warburg.

David’s also Chair of Campaign Agent Pty Ltd, on the school council of Lauriston Girls School in Melbourne and served for 5 years on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters Australia. He holds an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne. He lives in Melbourne with wife Louise and has 5 children and 1 grandchild.

Sam is responsible for deal origination, deal negotiation and the ongoing management of key client relationships within our Commercial Real Estate portfolio.

Sam has over 14 years’ experience working in real estate private equity and credit markets across both Australia and New Zealand priding himself on having strong and enduring relationships within the industry.

Prior to joining Merricks Capital, Sam was Head of Origination for IDA Property Group, a private equity real estate and advisory firm based in Melbourne.

Sam holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.

Dan is responsible for deal origination, deal negotiation and the ongoing management of key client relationships within our Agriculture portfolio.

Prior to joining Merricks Capital, Dan co-founded an agribusiness investment advisory firm, Black Range Capital where he was responsible for organisational leadership, strategy and execution across a broad range of investments.

Dan was previously a Senior Director at FTI Consulting, a global management consulting firm that focuses on corporate finance advisory and business restructuring. Prior to FTI, Dan spent five years at McGrathNicol post GFC, managing debt restructuring projects on behalf of banking clients.

Dan holds a Bachelor of Commerce, a Graduate Diploma of Chartered Accounting and a Masters of Agribusiness from Melbourne University.

Adam is the Portfolio Manager for the Merricks Capital Commodities Master Fund and heads Merricks Capital’s broader soft commodities research and trading activities.

Prior to joining Merricks Capital in 2008, Adam held senior roles in commodity management and trading at major Australian food companies including Peerless Foods, Goodman Fielder and George Weston Foods. In these roles, Adam was responsible for the management of physical commodity trading, commodity risk management, foreign exchange trading and bulk shipping logistics.

Adam has 20 years’ experience in commodity markets, with specialised knowledge of commodities logistical arbitrages; quality spreads, processing margins and crop cycles.
Adam holds a Bachelor of Business (Finance) from Charles Sturt University.

As Head of Operations at Merricks Capital, Laurie is primarily responsible for the investment operations and fund accounting functions within the business. His remit includes portfolio valuation, trade processing, settlements and reconciliations, treasury and investor reporting.

Laurie brings 15 years’ experience in finance from both London and Melbourne. Most recently he held the role of Director at Deloitte, advising investment managers on their processes and controls. Prior to Deloitte, Laurie held roles including Head of Operations and Head of Treasury at hedge funds in London. His responsibilities included Operations, Treasury, Fund Accounting, Risk, Compliance and Investor Reporting.

Laurie holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) and a Bachelor of Science from Monash University. On graduation, he moved to Canberra to produce economic forecasting, reporting and analysis for the Australian Treasury.

Avi is responsible for overseeing the firm’s Enterprise Risk Framework and Compliance function, which includes the development of models and plans to manage strategic, operational and regulatory risks as well as providing assurance that the business’ internal controls are appropriately designed, implemented and operating efficiently to ensure the firm’s continued compliance with its operational and regulatory obligations.

Avi has over 20 years of experience in global financial services having worked with fund managers, trustees, responsible entities, custodians, depositaries, administrators, private equity investors and diversified wealth management firms in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and Australia.

Prior to joining Merricks Capital, Avi was Chief Operating Officer and Director – Group Operational Risk at Qualitas where he had oversight and responsibility for the firm’s corporate and investment operations functions, including operational risk and fiduciary governance. Prior to this Avi worked in Deloitte’s financial services assurance and advisory practices, focusing primarily on wealth and investment management.

Avi holds a Bachelor of Business Science from the University of Cape Town, is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

As Marketing and Communications Manager at Merricks Capital, Olivia is responsible for the overall development and execution of all core marketing and communications functions.

Olivia brings over 7 years’ experience across the marketing and communications mix including branding, marketing, PR, internal communications, and stakeholder relations. Prior to joining Merricks Capital, Olivia was working in the commercial construction industry across a range of marketing & communications roles. Most recently as, Marketing Manager at ABD Group & Marcus Group.

She is a keen brand ambassador and believes maintaining strong brand awareness and language is crucial in any business.

Richard is responsible for the management of investments within our commercial real estate portfolio and is also head of our valuation panel.

Prior to joining Merricks Capital, Richard was a Senior Manager at ANZ Property Risk for over 7 years. Working primarily with the Institutional Property Group, he was actively involved in the execution and management of commercial property loans of between $5 million to $100 million plus.

Prior to this Richard was a Certified Commercial Property Valuer for over 5 years with Knight Frank and later M3 Property.

Richard holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Monash University and Graduate Diploma in Property Valuations from RMIT. He is also a Certified Practising Valuer (CPV).

Geoff is responsible for the management and execution of investments within our agriculture portfolio.

Prior to joining Merricks Capital, Geoff co-founded an agribusiness investment advisory firm, Black Range Capital where he originated and led M&A transactions along with structuring investment products for agribusiness.

Geoff previously worked for FTI Consulting, a global management consulting firm that focuses on corporate finance advisory and business restructuring. Geoff was a Senior Consultant at FTI who led and managed complex projects, both in Australia and internationally. Geoff has also worked in investment banking and has experience in M&A law.

Geoff holds a Bachelor of Commerce & Laws (Honours) from Monash University and a Graduate Diploma of Chartered Accounting.

Warren is responsible for the management of investments within our MC Power portfolio.

Prior to joining Merricks Capital, Warren was COO at Three Sixty Property Group, a leading project marketing business operating across the eastern seaboard of Australia. Prior to this, Warren held senior roles with Bilfinger Project Investments Australia as an equity sponsor and consortium leader across social and economic PPPs in Australia and New Zealand, as well as origination and execution roles with Macquarie Group in structured finance, corporate advisory and venture capital. He began his career as a graduate in the corporate tax division with PriceWaterhouse (now PwC).

Warren holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Melbourne, a GradDIPCA from the Australian Institute of Chartered Accountants, a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University and an MBA from Melbourne Business School (University of Melbourne).

Matthew is responsible for the feasibility, due diligence and execution of investments within our commercial real estate portfolio.

Prior to joining Merricks Capital, Matthew worked for DDH Graham, an Australian based fund manager and has extensive experience in the funding of real estate assets.

Matthew holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Graduate Diploma in Economics from The University of Queensland and is currently completing the CFA program.

James is responsible for the feasibility, due diligence and execution of investments within our agriculture portfolio and has a strong background in agribusiness.

Prior to joining Merricks Capital, James worked in London for three years in M&A and direct investment focused roles. Prior to this, James was a Manager at PWC Australia in the Food and Agribusiness Advisory team based in Melbourne.

James holds and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne and a Graduate Diploma of Chartered Accounting.

Ben is responsible for deal origination, deal negotiation and building long term strategic relationships with introducers, corporate advisers and clients across the agriculture sector.

Prior to joining Merricks Capital, Ben was a Senior Relationship Manager at ANZ where he was responsible for managing a diversified portfolio of middle market clients with complex working capital requirements.

Ben has held roles at NAB as a Corporate Agribusiness Manager managing high value pre and post gate businesses (across several industries, namely dry land cropping, graziers, feedlots, abattoirs, horticulture, and fruit & veg). Prior to NAB, Ben also worked for KPMG as an executive in the corporate advisory division.

Ben holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Commerce from Sydney University and a Graduate Certificate of Chartered Accounting from Deakin University.