Appian Capital Advisory

Founder and CEO Michael Scherb chairs the internal investment committee. Scherb spent a decade in J.P. Morgan's metals and mining investment banking division before founding Appian. The committee includes senior partners from the firm's technical and investment teams, reflecting Appian's operator-heavy model where geologists and mine engineers contribute materially to capital allocation.

Appian originates deals through a dedicated technical team conducting geological due diligence on development projects and operating mines globally. The firm's in-house operating capability — mine managers, metallurgists, and exploration geologists — gives it access to distressed asset sales and restructuring opportunities that financial investors without technical competence cannot evaluate. Appian has particularly deep origination channels in Brazil, where it operates several portfolio assets directly.

No. Appian Capital Advisory is an independent institutional asset manager that raises commingled private equity funds from global limited partners including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and family offices. It is not affiliated with any single-family wealth source.

Appian's model is built on direct control equity investments, alongside co-investments with sovereign and institutional partners in the same deals. The firm also executes structured royalty and streaming transactions, providing non-dilutive capital to miners. Appian does not act as a limited partner in third-party-managed mining funds.

Appian is a pure-play mining and minerals investor and does not allocate to general infrastructure, energy generation, agriculture, biofuels, or broader natural resources. Within mining, the firm has historically avoided thermal coal, though its portfolio tracks the electrification supply chain — copper, nickel, lithium, zinc, and platinum group metals — rather than fossil-fuel extraction.

Appian routinely brings sovereign wealth funds, development finance institutions, and pension funds into its deals as co-investors, but Appian maintains operational control. The firm does not offer co-investment slots in the traditional LP sense; partners enter alongside Appian in special-purpose vehicles tied to individual mine acquisitions rather than in the blind-pool fund.

Appian targets full exits through trade sales to major mining companies, strategic acquirers, or (less frequently) public listings. The firm's exit history includes the sale of Atlantic Nickel and the Serrote copper-gold mine to regional strategic buyers and global mining houses. Appian's role as an operator during the holding period — turning around distressed assets — is intended to maximize exit valuations to majors seeking de-risked, producing assets.