Resource Capital Funds has sold engineering and consulting firm Ausenco for about $900 million in a deal with a US billionaire and private equity firms looking to boost their exposure to battery minerals and energy transition.
The $US578 million sale comes nine years after RCF took the Australian mining-focused engineering firm private in a deal valued at about $150 millionand removed it from the ASX.
Ausenco’s new owners include billionaire Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries, which has a share in Major League Baseball team Los Angeles Dodgers and film studio A24. Brightstar Capital and the multi-billion dollar Claure Group, which owns a stake in Brightstar, are the other new owners.
US billionaire Todd Boehly. Getty Images
Marcelo Claure immediately declared his intention to use Ausenco to help turn Latin America into a major force in lithium as well as copper.
Ausenco has been a key plank of the investment portfolio at James McClements’ RCF since the Australian private equity firm’s original investment in 2014.
The company was founded in Brisbane in 1991 and now has about 3000 employees across offices in 15 countries, where its projects include wind and solar farms.
Ausenco has built four major copper concentrators, including at the Carrapateena project in South Australia BHP acquired this year as part of its $9.6 billion acquisition of OZ Minerals.
It has also built copper concentrators in Peru and in Chile with the red metal expected to be in high demand as part of electrification of global economies.
Mr McClements, who is chairman of ASX-listed Mineral Resources, said Ausenco had been a perfect fit with RCF’s strategy of growing mining businesses while generating strong returns.
Ausenco co-founder Zimi Meka, who also sits on the MinRes board, will remain chief executive, a board member and retain an ownership stake.
In a statement, Mr Boehly and Eldridge co-founders Tony Minella and Duncan Bagshaw said: “We invest in what people need and what people want … Ausenco has worked around the world to deliver minerals critical to nearly every aspect of our lives and to the ongoing energy transition.”
Mr Claure, founder and chief executive of his global investment firm, intends to join the Ausenco board and to double down on its footprint in Latin America.
“With the shift to more sustainable energy gaining momentum, Latin America will have a key role to play as the main producing region for essential minerals, such as copper and lithium,” he said.
“Given Ausenco’s strong presence and pipeline of projects in the region, we believe the company will be at the forefront of this transition, actively contributing to the electrification of the world.”
One of the hottest lithium assets in Latin America is the Grota do Cirilo mine in Brazil, owned by Canadian company Sigma Lithium but considered up for grabs.
The mine has been compared in size to Liontown Resources’ Kathleen Valley project in Western Australia.
Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you.
Fetching latest articles
The Daily Habit of Successful People
02 8005 6525
info@aktengineering.com.au
Recent Comments