Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is leading the bid to acquire a $2.5 billion stake in Vale’s nickel and copper operations, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
The report said PIF might strike the deal for a roughly 10% stake through a joint venture it set up in January with Ma’aden, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The wealth fund is poised to beat out rival bidders, including Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. and the Qatar Investment Authority, but it may take at least several weeks to hash out a formal agreement, the people said.
Spokespeople for PIF and Ma’aden didn’t immediately provide comments or couldn’t be reached. Representatives for Mitsui and QIA declined to comment. Vale said that, at this stage, it cannot confirm the amount of an eventual investment nor the parties involved, according to a Tuesday statement.
For the rest of this article: https://www.mining.com/saudis-pif-emerges-as-lead-bidder-for-2-5-billion-vale-base-metals-stake/