Merk Investments LLC (San Francisco)

Name: Merk Investments LLC
Address: 44 Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA, 94104
Telephone: 650-323-4341

Merk Investments LLC is a large advisory firm based in San Francisco. It manages $270.42 million of regulatory assets for 5 client accounts. It has been registered with the SEC as an adviser since 2001 and has operated in the jurisdiction of California.

Merk Investments provides portfolio management for individuals and small businesses, portfolio management for investment companies, portfolio management for pooled investment vehicles, and grantor trust. It doesn't provide financial planning services to its clients. On top of advisory services, the firm doesn't engage in other business activities.

Merk Investments: assets under management

The assets under management (AUM) of Merk Investments LLC is $270.42 million. The firm's AUM has grown by 844% since the beginning of its operation, and the company doesn't manage any assets belonging to foreign clients.

The firm manages $126.8 million in discretionary accounts and $143.62 million in non-discretionary accounts. On average, the discretionary accounts where all decisions are made on behalf of the client hold $31.7 million each. Non-discretionary accounts, where clients actively manage their portfolios, generally hold around $143.62 million.

Investments

The firm invests in other assets the most. They account for 85% of the total AUM. The second-largest asset type is derivatives, which make up 15% of the firm’s portfolio.

Fees & Commissions

The advisory firm has several streams of revenue. Clients pay Merk Investments LLC for their services and products based on a percentage of assets under management, fixed fees, and performance-based fees. Compensation based on assets under management promotes a long-term relationship between a client and the adviser and helps align mutual interests. These fees don’t include brokerage commissions, interest, taxes, and other account expenses.

What kind of clients Alexander Merk serves?

The firm provides services to investment companies and pooled investment vehicles. The largest group of clients of Alexander Merk is investment companies with 2 clients and $94.31 million of assets under management. Among the 12 most similar advisory firms, Merk Investments has the 2nd highest percentage of investment companies out of all clients.

The amount of regulatory assets under management is $126.8 million for 4 clients. None of the firm’s clients are foreign persons or businesses.

Merk Investments also advises several private funds. Namely, one hedge fund. The minimum investment commitment required of non-related persons is $2,000,000 for each fund.

Careers at Merk Investments LLC

The company employs 6 people that are either part- or full-time employees. 83 percent of the employees work as investment advisers or researchers. No employees are registered as investment adviser representatives with the state securities authorities.

There isn’t anyone with the role of looking for and bringing in new clients on behalf of the firm. The firm doesn’t compensate employees in addition to the salary for bringing in new clients. Employees don’t receive compensation from other entities for client referrals.

Alexander Merk has been acting as President since 1 Dec 2000. Lusine Moshkounian joined the executive team most recently as the Chief Compliance Officer.

Direct owners and executive officers

Name	Entity	Date acquired	Ownership	Employer ID
Alexander Merk	President	1 Dec 2000	75% - 100%	4458331
Alexander Gabriel Merk	President, cio, and managing member	1 Dec 2000	75% - 100%	4458331
Kimberly Anne Schuster	Cco	1 Sep 2004	Other	2529207
Hanna Maria Tikkanen Merk	Managing director	1 Feb 2006	Other	5652272
Kimberly Anne Schuster	Director of finance	1 Jun 2007	Other	2529207
Deborah Rachel Goldberg	Chief compliance officer	1 Jan 2009	Other	5652266
Robert Alan Hills	Chief compliance officer	1 Oct 2012	Other	2389726
Charles James Daly	Chief compliance officer	1 Jun 2015	Other	5259860
Martin Mitchell Fawzy	Chief compliance officer	1 Mar 2017	Other	4424481
Lusine Moshkounian	Chief compliance officer	1 Oct 2018	Other	3023317

Based in San Francisco

The principal office where Merk Investments LLC performs its advisory services is located at 44 Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA 94104 The mailing address of the firm is 555 Bryant Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301. It doesn’t run an office outside of the United States.

You can reach the main office by calling the phone number 650-323-4341 or by fax 650-745-7045. The normal business hours are 5:30am-3pm on Monday - Friday. You can find more information about the New York firm at merkinvestments.com.