Vitol Group, the biggest independent oil trader, sold the metals and concentrates business of its Euromin SA subsidiary to Interalloys GmbH, a steel-making raw materials trader.
The acquisition includes all employees and supply contracts excluding alumina, Vienna-based Interalloys said in a statement to Bloomberg. The price wasn’t disclosed. Euromin trades copper to nickel, and specializes in lead and zinc, according to Geneva-based Vitol’s website.
“It’s a significant business,” Nick Clarke, chairman of Interalloys, said in an interview today. The acquisition will help Interalloys grow its lead, zinc and silver concentrates business, bringing total staff to 15, he said.
Other energy traders Mercuria Energy Trading SA and Gunvor Group Ltd. are expanding into industrialmetals. Interalloys trades about 7 million pounds (3,175 metric tons) of molybdenum a year and 50,000 metric tons of iron ore a month, Clarke said.
Vitol trades more than 5 million barrels of oil a day and had revenues of $303 billion in 2012, according to its website. Oil, gasoline, naphtha, gas oil and jet, fuel oil, natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas accounted for 91 percent of 2012 revenue, data in Vitol’s annual report show.
“What’s small for them may be big for me,” Clarke said. “My vision is to create a company where we obtain a stream of product.” Interalloys is the exclusive European sales representative for Thompson Creek Metals Co.
Vitol became a Category 5 member of the London Metal Exchange in January when Euromin’s membership was removed. Category 5 members are associate trade members that have no trading rights on the exchange except as clients.