Private Advisors closes natural resources fund amid high investor interest

Private Advisors LLC has raised the firm’s first Real Assets Fund to target private natural resources. The fund, which closed on May 31, received approximately $205 million in capital commitments.

The fund will back small specialist managers and natural resource co-investments. The Real Assets Fund received financial investments from old and new institutional investors, family offices and high net worth individuals. Private Advisors’ real assets investment strategy will be led by Zac McCarroll, a partner at the firm, who has more than two decades of experience in the natural resources sector.

“The natural resource private equity market has evolved dramatically over the last decade, generating new opportunities that are both diverse and increasingly complex,” states McCarroll. “We are deeply thankful for our investors’ support, and we believe this Fund has the potential to produce attractive total returns and inflation protection for them.”

The current deal comes less than a month after the firm completed fundraising for its fourth small business co-investment fund, called Small Company Co-Investment IV. Founded in 1997, Private Advisors currently has more than $4.7 billion in assets. The firm sources, underwrites, structures, and manages investments in small to mid-sized managers and direct transactions. Private Advisors is based in Richmond, Virginia.

Private equity firms such as Ardian and Constitution Capital Partners have raised co-investment capital in the past. Other middle-market capital raises include: Platte River closing its $625 million lower middle-market fund; Steadfast Capital Markets Group establishing a direct lending credit fund with Alcentra NY LLC; Private Advisors’ closing its fourth co-investment program; CVC Capital Partners’ $18 billion fund to target U.S. and European investments; the Riverside Co.’s first minority investment fund in April 2017.