Advisory Business
The Advisor and Relying Adviser
Minerva Advisors, LLC (“the Advisor”) provides investment advisory services to clients through
separately managed accounts (the “separate accounts”) and to the Minerva Group, L.P. (“Fund”).
The Advisor was formed on November 7, 2002 to provide investment advisory services. The Fund
was formed to pursue certain investment strategies including, but not limited to, investment in
equity securities of publicly traded U.S. micro-cap value companies and small-cap value
companies. The Advisor and the Fund began operations on February 1, 2003. An affiliated entity
serves as general partner of the Fund (the “General Partner”).
The SPV was formed in February 2022 to facilitate an investment in a pink sheet-listed company.
Minerva Advisors, LLC is affiliated through common ownership with Minerva 1894 GP, LLC,
formed in 2022, which acts as a relying adviser (“Relying Adviser”) with respect to a special
purpose vehicle (“SPV”) to facilitate an equity investment in a single pink sheet company on behalf
of certain investors. This brochure describes the aggregate business practices of such affiliated
entities, which operate a single advisory business filing a single Form ADV in reliance on U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) guidance and are referred to throughout this
Brochure by the following interchangeable terms: “Minerva” and “Advisor.”
David P. Cohen is the manager and sole member of Minerva Advisors, LLC and owns 100% of its
membership interests. Mr. Cohen has over 35 years of investment management experience,
primarily in investments in small and micro-cap equity securities.
David P. Cohen and Matthew Schaenen are members of Relying Adviser, Minerva 1894 GP, LLC,
and together own 100% of its membership interests.
In November 1988, Mr. Cohen founded Athena Capital Management, Inc. (“Athena”). Athena
provided investment and advisory services to high-net-worth individuals. Mr. Cohen served as
President of Athena and held 81.7% of the common stock of Athena. On December 31, 2011,
Athena merged with and into the Advisor. Following the merger, client accounts formerly
managed by Athena are now managed by the Advisor.
The principal executive offices of the Advisor and its affiliated entities are located at 50 Monument
Road, Suite 201, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004.
As of December 31, 2023, the Advisor had approximately $296,546,892 of assets under
management on a discretionary basis and $6,839,807 of assets under management on a non-
discretionary basis.
Advisory Services
Separate Accounts
The Advisor provides discretionary investment advisory services through separately managed
account arrangements pursuant to advisory contracts, which incorporate investment guidelines and
restrictions. Advisory contracts typically are negotiated to meet the specific needs of a particular
client.
Generally, the Advisor’s investment strategy for the separate accounts is focused on small cap
value investing in equity securities; however, this strategy is, when appropriate, tailored for
different client needs, objectives, and risk tolerances, which may change from time to time, and
also may vary depending on market conditions. Currently, the Advisor’s separate account clients
are pursuing a long-term growth strategy. Qualified clients may engage the Advisor to manage a
concentrated portfolio of securities. A separate account client is permitted to impose reasonable
restrictions in writing on the Advisor’s ability to invest in certain securities. These investment
restrictions may prohibit the purchase by the Advisor, for the benefit of the separate account, of
individual securities or impose sector restrictions on the Advisor for the benefit of the separate
account. The Advisor will
review any investment restrictions to determine whether they are
reasonable. In the case of restrictions involving categories of securities, the Advisor also will
determine the specific securities that will be included in the restricted category. Currently, the
Advisor will consider accepting a very limited number of separate accounts in excess of $3 million.
The Fund
The Advisor provides investment management services to the Fund pursuant to an investment
management agreement (the “Investment Management Agreement”) between the Advisor and the
General Partner and the Fund, dated December 31, 2002. Under the Investment Management
Agreement, the General Partner delegates to the Advisor all of its authority under the Fund’s
limited partnership agreement (the “Partnership Agreement”) to manage and operate the Fund and
formulate investment policy. The Investment Management Agreement requires the Advisor to
direct the investments of the Fund, subject to and in accordance with the Fund’s investment
objectives and limitations provided in the Partnership Agreement and the PPM.
Interests in the Fund are offered exclusively to individuals who qualify as “accredited investors”
under Regulation D promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”),
and “qualified clients” as such term is defined under the Advisers Act. The Fund is not required
to register with the SEC as an investment company in accordance with the exemption set forth in
Section 3(c)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.
Investment strategies and guidelines are not tailored to the individualized needs of any particular
investor in the Fund. Other than the restrictions set out in the Investment Management Agreement,
investors in the Fund are not permitted to impose restrictions on the Advisor’s ability to invest in
certain securities or types of securities.
The primary investment strategy of the Fund is making investments in equity securities of publicly
traded U.S. micro-cap value companies and small cap value companies. The Fund is authorized
to purchase debt securities, debt obligations and derivative securities of such companies.
While the Advisor will seek to manage a diversified portfolio for the Fund, the Fund has no specific
policy or guideline regarding diversification. As a result, the Fund’s investments may be
concentrated in a few industries, companies, or geographic regions.
Investments in the separate accounts and the Fund involve significant risks and should be regarded
as long-term in nature, forming only one portion of an investor’s diversified investment portfolio.
For further information on the Advisor’s investment methods, please refer to Item 8 - Methods of
Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss.
The SPV
An affiliate of the Advisor, Minerva 1894 GP, LLC, is deemed to be a Relying Adviser, providing
investment management services to the SPV pursuant to an Agreement of Limited Partnership.
Interests in the SPV were offered exclusively to individuals who qualify as “accredited investors”
under Regulation D promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”),
and “qualified clients” as such term is defined under the Advisers Act. The SPV is not required to
register with the SEC as an investment company in accordance with the exemption set forth in
Section 3(c)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. The SPV was formed to
facilitate an equity investment in a single company on behalf of certain investors and is not
currently accepting new investors. As a result, the SPV is not a diversified portfolio, and therefore
an investment in the SPV involves significant risk and should be regarded as long term in nature,
forming only one portion of an investor’s diversified investment portfolio.