Albanese government’s renewable energy investment arm defends funding for PE firm founded by MinRes chair

The Albanese government’s renewable energy investment arm has defended its funding for a private equity firm founded and controlled by Mineral Resources chairman James McClements.

Mineral Resources chairman James McClements addresses shareholders. Picture: Courtney McAllister

The Albanese government’s renewable energy investment arm has defended a $US75m ($117m) investment in a private equity firm founded and controlled by embattled Mineral Resources chairman James McClements.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation’s investment in Resource Capital Funds comes with Mr McClements and the rest of the MinRes board and management under scrutiny over governance standards, including the board’s decision not to disclose tax evasion and other scandals until they were exposed in the media.

CEFC director for WA Jacqueline Lane, who worked at RCF for about nine years until 2022, was part of the team at the taxpayer-funded renewable energy bank that worked on the investment in RCF and talked up its merits in a statement issued by the CEFC on Monday.

“The world urgently needs a strong supply of critical minerals to power the clean energy transition. From the lithium and nickel for batteries to the copper for transmission, we must secure these minerals quickly and sustainably,” Ms Lane said.

“RCF is a highly experienced mining investment house. Our work with them will enhance environmental standards and reinforce the competitive advantage of Australian minerals in the global market with the potential to further develop onshore downstream processing infrastructure with financial discipline.”

Mineral Resources founder Chris Ellison.

In defending the investment and its governance standards, the CEFC said it had robust policies and procedures in respect of employee screening, the identification and management of conflicts of interest and independent investment decision-making.

“These policies and procedures are followed with regard to all investment decisions, including the decision to invest with RCF,” a CEFC spokesman said.

“Ms Lane was a member of the CEFC deal team for the transaction and made all appropriate disclosures regarding her former employment at RCF …”

The CEFC said the decision to invest with RCF was made by its executive investment committee acting under delegation from the CEFC board.

RCF said it could not comment on fundraising because the activity was highly regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US.

The CEFC funds are going into RCF’s flagship private equity fund, RCF VIII fund, which targets battery minerals in Australia.

Jacqui Murray, partner and head of fund at RCF, said: “We … are pleased to be working with the CEFC to advance decarbonisation through investments in emerging critical minerals projects.” RCF said it was “very comfortable” that there were no conflicts that need managing with respect to Mr McClements, and that in any event, it had a robust conflict management process.

Mr McClements co-founded RCF in 1998 and is the managing partner. He has been under siege at MinRes over a governance crisis involving the company’s managing director Chris Ellison, who has apologised for his involvement in a tax evasion scandal and the misuse of company funds.

MinRes is under investigation by the Australian Investment and Securities Commission and has been grilled by the ASX and investors about disclosure standards.

Originally published as Albanese government’s renewable energy investment arm defends funding for PE firm founded by MinRes chair