Chinese Nickel Tycoon Taps Top Global Traders for Aluminum Push

A Chinese tycoon who helped transform Indonesia’s metals industry over the past decade is in talks with commodity trading giants Mercuria Energy Group, Glencore Plc and Trafigura Group to secure investments in his new, $3 billion aluminum smelter.

A deal between Xiang Guangda’s Tsingshan Holding Group Co. and the trading houses over minority stakes in the Weda Bay industrial park smelter would provide the merchants with a share of output from the 800,000-ton facility, people familiar with the matter said, adding the talks were already advanced. They asked not to be named as discussions are not public.