Investment adviser Appian in February announced a strategic sell-down of its equity position to global rare earths company Shenghe Resources.

At the time, Appian noted it had substantially exited its position in ASX-listed Peak Rare Earths, generating strong risk adjusted returns for its investors.

The sale of the 19.9% stake to rare earth minerals major Shenghe Resources validates Appian’s ability to identify technically attractive and strategic investments.

This included the realisation of an attractive premium of 28.3% from the five-day volume weight average price and 24.5% from the closing share price prior to the announcement.

The company regards this as another successful exit in green-linked commodities, with exposure to the growing clean energy generation, storage and electric vehicle markets, which are key areas of focus for Appian.

As a leading rare earths major with a global operational footprint, Shenghe will be a valuable technical and financial partner to Peak going forward.

Appian said that it has long been an industry leader in being able to identify world-class assets such as Peak, whose critical minerals are required for the development of sustainable technologies such as electric vehicles and renewable-energy projects.

The sale of this strategic stake in Peak, as well as the premium achieved, reaffirms the attractiveness of the Ngualla rare earths project and its importance to global decarbonisation initiatives through the manufacture of permanent rare-earth magnets critical for the energy transition.

“This transaction further validates the success of Appian’s model to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns,” said Appian founder and CEO Michael W Scherb.

He explained that the sale to a rare earths major is a strong endorsement of Peak’s world-leading project, enabling it to move on to the next stage of development.