Despite the downturn in oil and gas prices and other commodities, natural resources fundraising may set a record this year.
Capital raised by these funds, including funds focused on oil and gas, is on course to match the record of $61 billion reached in 2013, and has already surpassed the total for 2014, according to Preqin, a data and analysis firm for private equity.
“2015 has been a challenging year for the wider natural resources industry with low commodity prices grabbing the headlines. Despite this, new natural resources funds continue to come to market and successfully raise capital, with 2015 marking the latest in several years of strong fundraising,” said Tom Carr, head of natural resources for Preqin, New York.
The fundraising activity seems unlikely to slow down in the next few months, Preqin said, with some 212 natural resources funds currently known to be on the road. Their marketing is targeting a combined $109 billion in investor commitments globally. Of these, energy accounts for 68% of the targeted capital raise, and agriculture, 15%.
Some 136 funds that focus primarily on energy are targeting $83 billion in aggregate capital (keeping in mind that this category includes more than oil and gas alone). However the largest target size, according to Preqin, is that of Riverstone Global Energy and Power Fund VI, targeting $7.5 billion.
Preqin’s broad definition of natural resources includes agriculture, timberland, metals, mining and water, in addition to oil and gas, although the latter commodities dominate. Fund-raising for energy accounted for 71% of these funds closed through November 2015, while agriculture funds accounted for 20%. Only one mining fund was closed this year, reflecting the worldwide mining slump and investors’ caution due to very low prices in that sector.
Over half (55%) of the energy finds closed so far this year have raised 120% or more of their target size—this marks the highest proportion of fundraising over-achievement recorded, with only 18% of funds closing below their target in 2015.
The average target size of the energy funds is $653 million.
Fundraising for closed-end energy funds remains strong, with 32 funds closing on $49 billion in capital commitments, possibly suggesting that investors believe opportunities exist in undervalued assets offloaded by companies under financial stress, Preqin said.
EnCap Energy Capital Fund X closed in April with $6.5 billion committed and ArcLight Energy Partners VI closed in July with $5.6 billion, just two examples of large funds focused mostly or entirely on oil and gas or midstream assets in North America.
“Investors are beginning to view natural resources not as a singular asset class, but as an assorted collection of real assets with differing risk/return profiles which provide an attractive opportunity to diversify their portfolio,” said Carr. “Aside from these benefits, investors may also be seeking to take advantage of the long-term growth potential of the natural resources sector, as expected population growth over the longer term and rising incomes in the developing world increase the demand for these finite resources.”
Leslie Haines can be reached at lhaines@hartenergy.com.
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