Investors are returning to the energy and mining sectors, while both industries navigate structural changes in the markets for their products and new sources of debt and equity, according to leading investment groups addressing today’s Energy Mines and Money conference in Brisbane, Australia.
Royal Stream Investments’ CEO, Simon Klimt, Morgan’s Director Corporate Advisory, Roger Leaning and Peter Nicholson, Managing Director, Resource Capital Funds addressed a 400 strong crowd of leading energy and mining explorers, producers and investors.at the 2018 Energy Mines and Money conference.
The sentiment was that there is significant capital looking for a home in in mining and energy projects.
Peter Nicholson set the scene around resource investment, pointing out the growth in opportunities for resources projects to gain private equity backing. He cautioned that while it can be harder to attract, it is usually a longer-term investment.
“I’m seeing the emergence of more funds out there, which should create opportunity and confidence in the sector,” he said.
Klimt followed the theme saying it was good to see investment across the sector developing, particularly around debt capital finance.
“Another trend is that speciality resource debt funds are providing debt capital before banks are willing to invest. It’s a better match for the risk profile of explorers and developers,” he said.
The panel suggested that the IPO market is a key indicator for investment risk profile.
Leaning says that there were a number of ‘green shoots’ that were receiving interest and investment. However, he suggested that IPOs are currently a “mixed bag” of success.
“We see that people are coming back in, but there is still caution. This is reflected in the risk profile.
Explorers or medium-term producers are struggling to get traction, but those in latter development stages are generating significant investor interest,” Simon commented.
Klimt moved also discussed new opportunities. He suggested that the market is well positioned to take advantage of the new frontier of new energy but warned companies to communicate value and risks to investors.
“As an industry, particularly new energy including battery minerals, we need to work harder to educate investors on the value of the industry, as well as explaining the risks of a rapidly changing technology,” he said.
