Kinterra raises $565M for debut minerals fund

Canadian private equity firm Kinterra Capital closed $565 million for a first fund focused on investing in infrastructure for mining and processing minerals for batteries and other clean energy technologies.

Why it matters: There's been a boom of government support in the U.S. and Canada around transitioning the electric vehicle battery supply chain from Asia back to North America.

Details: Co-Managing Partners Cheryl Brandon and Kamal Toor started investing out of the fund last year, according to the Wall Street Journal.

• Investments include a copper project in Michigan, a nickel project in Quebec, and buying Australian nickel miner Cannon Resources.
• Kinterra says it will invest in stable regions with strong incentives like North America, Western Europe, and Australia.
• The firm is looking for partners in automakers and battery manufacturers.

Big picture: Despite recent challenges for automakers manufacturing EVs, the market for electric vehicles will continue to grow globally.

• And those EVs will all need to be powered by batteries that use minerals like lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite.
• Much of the battery supply chain is centered in China, but the U.S. and Canadian governments are aggressively looking to invest in bringing more mineral mining and processing back to North America.