The new application called Mercury is designed to match UHNWIs with private equity opportunities valued between $100m and $500m.
It will be launched during Singapore’s Fintech week in November, the company announced.
Farringdon is in negotiation with “several investment banks and PE firms” with a goal to establish a deal pipeline, according to Martin Young, CEO of Farringdon Asset Management.
The firm is targeting individuals with demonstrable assets of at least $30m and institutions with at least $500m. It plans to offer deals in the equity and debt space with a minimum investment of $5m per client. The service will be available to institutional clients worldwide, but it will also target individuals in the Asean countries, Young told FSA.
“We have seen an increasing trend for ultra high-net-worth individuals to invest directly into the kind of debt and equity deals previously reserved only for banks and large institutions,” Young said in a statement. “Mercury is designed to support that trend and get these investment opportunities out to a wide network of potential buyers.”
“Many Asian investors seek out high quality investment opportunities in places such as Europe,” said Ana Isabel Gonzalez, director of Farringdon Asset Management.
“The greatest opportunity for such investment is in the $100m to $500m space. This investment size is often too small for investment banks and institutions but too [high] for single investors. Such projects are turning more and more to so called ‘club deals’ which Mercury will help to facilitate.
Farringdon operates Algebra, a robo-advisory service offering sharia-compliant portfolios to investors in Malaysia, which was launched in July.
Mercury will use the same robo-advisor technology. “The underlying investment preference algorithms will be adapted to private equity- type investments and away from the security-based investments that Algebra uses,” Young said. “Over time we intend to incorporate machine learning into this to help better capture investment preference.”
Farringdon has announced that the service will be accessible via mobile channels, through iOS and Android apps. “There will be a website as well although the fast paced nature of such deals will mean that most transactions will take place via mobile apps,” Young said.
