Appian Capital, a London-based private equity firm specializing in the mining and metals sector, has held the final round of its second fund at $ 775m with a hard cap.
The fund, Appian Natural Resources Fund II, follows the previous strategy of investing in natural resources across the globe. The vehicle is a step up from the company’s debating assets, which closed in 2013 at $ 375m, and will bring the company’s total assets under management to $ 1.2bn.
The new strategy was overcrowded, Appian said, attracting interest from existing and new investors.
The successful fundraising, however, comes at a time when the buying industry is increasingly moving away from mining investments – either because of challenges related to commodity prices or pressure from investors. institution, which wants to focus on assets with less environmental impact.
According to a report by law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner published last year, private equity investments in the sector worldwide fell to $ 500m in 2019 from $ 2bn a year earlier – the lowest level since the start of company monitors the area in 2013.
Currently, the company’s second asset is 40% used. Its main targets are medium-sized assets, including products used in batteries, electric vehicles and renewable energy systems. The company said it will also invest in precious metals as a potential portfolio hedge.
The Appian package includes recently acquired products, such as equity investments in the copper mine of the Gold Verração Vale Verde in Brazil and the Kalbar Operations mineral sand project in Australia; royal investment in Santa Rita’s nickel-copper-cobalt assets at Atlantic Nickel in Brazil; and both royal and credit investments in the Sugar Zone mine at Harte Gold in Ontario, Canada.
Michael Scherb, Appian founder and chief executive, said the second fund is “well placed to benefit from exposure to high growth segments of the global economy, through products that enable the transition to a low carbon economy and core development. -structure ”.
Scherb, formerly investment banker JP Morgan Cazenove, founded Appian Capital in 2012. Since then, the firm has grown to 37 investment professionals across Appian’s offices in London, Toronto, Lima, Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and Sydney.