Australian former mining boss to launch resources fund

Morgan recently set-up Arete Capital Partners in Melbourne and is currently targeting four projects worth a total of A$1.7 billion ($1.3 billion).

"We're just out of the blocks,'' Morgan told The Australian. ""They [the projects] are not in the public arena. They are opportunities that we have self-generated through our contacts across the group and we can continue to bring them forward, illustrative of what we can do to the fund managers, if they were to advance funds."

The four immediate deals for the new fund involve gold and copper assets in North and Latin America, and the Middle East. The biggest is a $500 million copper project with associated port infrastructure in Latin America. The fund will typically target assets being shed by large mining companies as they face added pressure from the downturn in commodities prices. The average investment will be $200-300 million.

Private equity specialist Campbell Olsen, who founded Polarity Capital, will be Arete's CEO. Shaun Treacy, former head natural resources at J.P. Morgan, is executive director and chief investment officer. The GP is yet to appoint a placement agent.

Morgan follows in the footsteps of Owen Hegarty, the former Asia managing director for Rio Tinto Group, who set of EMR Capital in 2011. The GP reached a final close of $450 million on its specialist mining fund in February. 

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Industrials
• Fundraising
• GPs
• Australasia
• Fundraising
• GPs
• Australia
• Commodities