Investment Criteria
Mercury looks for investment opportunities that possess many of the following characteristics:

• Strong market positions.
• Strong management team with a shareholder value approach.
• Solid industry fundamentals with positive long-term trends.
• Potential for superior equity values through growth, consolidation and/or de-leveraging.
• Reasonably predictable and growing earnings and/or cash flows.
• Assets with strong franchise values that offer downside protection from the loss of invested capital.

Mercury invests primarily in the form of equity securities with a targeted IRR of 25.00% or more. The Fund also may acquire debt securities with equity conversion rights.

Areas of Focus
Mercury's investment team has operating and investment experience in a broad range of media businesses including radio, cable television, broadcast towers, suburban newspapers, event marketing, concert entertainment, major league sports broadcast rights, and Internet media.

Other Investment Parameters
Mercury’s investments take the form of both controlling and non-controlling positions in portfolio companies. All private placements are made with the consent of the portfolio companies’ board of directors and result in some level of influence in the major corporate decisions. Mercury contributes to the strategic and financial decisions of the portfolio companies through the board of directors but does not assume any day-to-day operating responsibilities. The Fund’s investments in publicly traded entities, however, may provide the Fund little or no degree of meaningful influence.

Mercury also seeks to invest alongside management teams and financial sponsors who demonstrate high levels of industry expertise, financial performance and integrity.