Volkswagen AG
Automaker Volkswagen is backing the purchase of two battery raw material mines in Brazil.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
Car makers Volkswagen and Stellantis and mining group Glencore are backing finance firm ACG’s purchase of two battery raw material mines in Brazil. This was announced by the London-listed stock exchange shell (Special Purpose Acquisition Company, SPAC) on Monday.
ACG plans to buy nickel sulfide and copper mines for $1 billion. Volkswagen subsidiary PowerCo will make an upfront payment of $100 million for nickel sulfide, along with Stellantis, Glencore and a mining investment fund each. The remaining funds are to be raised on the capital market.
Volkswagen and Stellantis stock up on raw materials for electric car batteries. In the PowerCo, Volkswagen has bundled its battery business, which includes the construction of battery cell plants, securing the necessary raw materials and recycling batteries. Nickel concentrate will be further processed at Glencore’s facilities in Western Europe and North America, ACG said.
In the process, ACG will become ACG Electric Metals and issue new shares, ACG CEO Artem Volynets said. Glencore, Stellantis and the La Mancha Fund will own 51 percent, with 49 percent remaining in free float.
The sale of the two mines to the South African company Sibanye-Stillwater had previously failed. Sibanye-Stillwater withdrew from the contract in January, citing geotechnical instability at the nickel mine. The seller dismissed this as false and sued the buyer for $1.2 billion. ACG stated that it has full confidence in the mines that can be developed.
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