Vale (NYSE:VALE) said Thursday it agreed to sell 13% of its nickel and copper business in two separate deals totaling $3.4B.
Under the deals, a joint venture formed by Saudi Arabia’s Ma’aden and the country’s sovereign wealth fund will acquire 10% of Vale’s (VALE) base metal unit, confirming earlier speculation, and U.S. investment firm Engine No. 1 will buy 3%.
For Saudi Arabia, the deal marks its first big push to deploy its vast oil wealth into the global mining industry; for Vale, the sale proceeds will help finance as much as $30B of investments over the next decade to tap growing demand for nickel and copper in the switch to electric vehicles.
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