KKR & CO., the U.S. private equity firm owned by billionaires Henry Kravis and George Roberts, has raised its stake in OZ Minerals Ltd., which has Australia’s biggest undeveloped copper deposit. It grabbed the opportunity in a period of a commodity, pulling down prices lower.

Steven R. Okun, public affairs director at KKR Asia Pacific, stated in an email statement to Bloomberg that this was a good time to accumulate more shares in Oz Minerals considering the commodity rout. He added that it has been a good company and its share value had plunged when his company made the investment. He also confirmed that KKR now secured 10 percent of OZ Minerals’ stakes.

On Thursday, after the news of KKR & CO raising its stakes broke out, shares of OZ Minerals went up by 14 percent, reported Australian Financial Review. The stock rose as high as AU$3.77, its biggest share leap since last year, after it was reported KKR & CO. has planned the share raid at A$3.60 per share. But before the KKR & CO.’s announcement, OZ minerals shares fell for the third time since a peak in May.

KKR & CO. already had 5 percent of stake in the company. According to Bloomberg index, commodity prices have plummeted and prices of about 22 raw materials touched the lowest in August since 1999, amid forecasts for the slowest economic growth since 1990 in China.

Last month, OZ Minerals Chief Executive Officer Andrew Cole said that a potential global scramble for projects and mine could be expected amid the forecasts of supply shortages, noting that copper prices touched a six-year low in August.

Meanwhile, Evan Lucas, a market strategist at IG Ltd. in Melbourne, said KKR is likely to exert its influence in the company after increasing its share of stake, citing that it was the company’s general trend. “KKR has a history of playing the activist shareholder,” he said.

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