The incoming chair of Vale’s newly created base metals business said he wants to focus on margins and marketing, with the aim of preparing operations for a possible public listing.
Mark Cutifani told the Financial Times that the new unit is well-placed to grow as demand for critical metals like copper, cobalt, and nickel rises due to the energy transition.
“I have always been one to focus on margins,” he told FT. “If we do that, then we think the market will potentially reprice the value of our business.”
“An IPO down the road is a liquidity event that you could pursue,” said Vale’s CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo on an earnings call in April.
“The fundamental reason why we brought on Mark is to help us on the execution of this plan to this liquidity event,” Bartolomeo said.
The former chief executive of Anglo American will take up the role at Vale in July.
Vale expects fresh news about the sale of a 10% stake in its base metals unit to come in the first half of this year, an executive told analysts in a conference call in February. The unit is estimated to be worth nearly $2.5 billion.
Vale Base Metals would have nickel mines in Canada and Indonesia, copper mines in Brazil, and interests in cobalt and platinum group metals.
Top bidders included carmakers, state investors and pension funds.
