Scarcity backs real assets manager in latest PE investment
Private equity manager Scarcity Partners has backed a specialist investment manager focused on metals and mining, seeking to meet investor demand for real assets.
The firm has partnered with five founding executives to launch Benwerrin, with the team bringing more than 100 years combined of experience working in mining, project development, and resource finance.
In its private equity capacity, Scarcity has helped Benwerrin establish an institutional-grade platform designed to meet the due diligence and governance standards of institutional investors. The first Benwerrin fund will provide bespoke growth capital solutions to metals and mining ventures across debt, royalties/streams, and other growth-linked instruments.
The fund aims to generate returns through loan income supplemented by asset and commodity-linked royalties/streams, which can offer a natural hedge against inflation and commodity price volatility.
“Benwerrin’s strategy is well positioned amid a shifting macroeconomic environment characterised by persistent fiscal expansion, elevated deficits and rising inflation pressures. With governments worldwide pursuing stimulatory spending and the global economy adjusting to deglobalisation and resource nationalism, demand for secure supply chains and energy transition materials is increasing,” Scarcity said.
“In this context, Benwerrin’s focus on mining-related credit and royalties/streams offers investors a compelling way to access inflation-protected real returns backed by tangible assets.”
This is the fourth investment Scarcity has made via its Scarcity GP Access Fund, which provides investors with exposure to high-quality managers. Other investments include Evidentia Group, private credit manager Privity Credit, and venture capital firm January Capital.
The firm’s 30 per cent stake in managed account provider Evidentia was subsequently acquired a year later by Generation Development Group (GDG) in February 2025.
“Benwerrin represents the kind of specialist, high-conviction investment we seek for the Scarcity GP Access Fund,” said Adrian Whittingham, managing partner at Scarcity Partners. “It combines a cohesive, proven management team with a differentiated investment capability at a time when institutional demand for real assets and inflation protection is accelerating.”
Earlier this year, Scarcity appointed former Ophir Asset Management CEO George Chirakis as its partner to expand its fundraising efforts and support the growth of its portfolio companies, working alongside founding partner Matthew Webb.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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