Documents show that documents reveal the former Glencore trader is part of Ambatovy Nickel's takeover.
Documents reviewed by us show that a former Glencore nickel trader is a key figure in the consortium that will take over the Ambatovy Nickel project in Madagascar from Sumitomo Corporation.
Jason Kluk left the Swiss-based mining company in late 2024. He is listed in Jersey and UK documents as being a director at Essenwood Partners. Sumitomo claimed that Essenwood Partners was the entity leading the acquisition of its 54% stake in Ambatovy along with South African firm Zungu Investments.
Sumitomo announced on Friday that it was selling its shares after over 20 years to the Jersey-based Ambatovy Mineral Resources Investment Holding Co. or AMRI. It added that it would suffer a loss of $445 million on this investment.
Kluk's involvement indicates that he is?confident of turning around a business which has caused Sumitomo a cumulative loss of 400 billion yen (2.6 billion dollars). Kluk and Zungu did not respond immediately to comments. South Africa has a public holiday on Friday.
The deal comes at a time when nickel prices are at their highest levels in two years after Indonesia, the top producer of the metal, announced plans to tighten up supply. Meanwhile, sulphur shortages caused by the war with Iran have led to the first market deficit since 2021.
Kluk, 39 is listed in the UK Companies Register as the person who controls 75% or more of Essenwood Partners and by the Jersey Financial Services Commission as the director of AMRI.
Zungu is a South African private equity firm founded in 2000 by Zandile Zungu. It owns AmaZulu Football Club and has stakes on South African thermal coal assets.
Essenwood and Zungu did not reveal the size of their stakes in Ambatovy or?AMRI.
Ambatovy produced approximately 2,500?tons cobalt and 28,000 metric tonnes of nickel in 2024. The remaining 46% of Ambatovy is owned by the state-owned Korea Mine Rehabilitation and Mineral Resources Corporation.
Ambatovy closed its doors after a cyclone damaged their facilities in February. Sumitomo stated that it plans to resume production by May or June.
Sumitomo stated in a presentation that AMRI was a consortium of people who had experience managing nickel businesses, with similar technology and scale as Ambatovy. They also have technical abilities and nickel industry networks.
It said that the deal should be completed by September. Reporting by Polina Devlin and Tom Daly. Editing by Pratima Deai and Mark Potter.
(source: Reuters)
