Origo & Trafigura announce Mongolian iron ore & coal venture
07 November
2011
Origo Partners Plc (“Origo”) and Trafigura
Beheer B.V. (“Trafigura”) are pleased to announce the formation of
a joint venture company, Trafigura-Origo MGL to invest in coal and
iron ore opportunities in Mongolia (“the Joint Venture”). The
Joint Venture will benefit from the combination of Origo’s
transactional, geological and technical expertise in Mongolia and
Trafigura’s global and Mongolian experience in commodities
production, trading and logistics.
The Joint Venture, to be owned 50:50 by
wholly-owned Mongolian subsidiaries of Trafigura and Origo
respectively, will invest in a number of already identified iron
ore and coal exploration projects in Mongolia with the objective of
targeting further high-grade deposits with the potential for
significant export volumes.
Origo and Trafigura have also agreed to
consider expanding the scope of the Joint Venture into other
countries in the region, such as Kazakhstan and Russia and to cover
all commodities. Origo will share in the benefits of the trading of
commodities from assets that the Joint Venture invests in.
Trafigura is one of the world’s leading physical commodity trading
companies. Origo is one of the largest private equity investors in
the Mongolian natural resource sector.
The Joint Venture will be jointly managed
by Luke Leslie, Head of Mongolia and Mining Investments at Origo
and Mikhail Zeldovich, Head of Russia/CIS and Mongolia at
Trafigura. The Company’s Board will also include Chris Rynning, CEO
of Origo and Chris Cox, a Director at Trafigura.
Chris Cox, Director of Trafigura Beheer
B.V. said:
“The Joint Venture represents an excellent
opportunity to further strengthen our involvement in Mongolia. It
also helps us to maintain our position as a leading player in the
global commodities business.”
Commenting on today’s announcement, Chris
Rynning, the CEO of Origo, said:
“The Joint Venture is an endorsement of
our mining franchise, our market leading position in Mongolia and
the country’s potential to develop into a major supplier of bulk
commodities and base metals. Working with Trafigura, one of the
world’s leading trading companies, will enable us to enhance our
existing strong position in Mongolia and the wider region.
“This Joint Venture will enable our
experienced team of finance professionals, industry experts and
geologists to further develop our investments in Mongolia’s natural
resource sector. Our on the ground presence means we are in
an increasingly strong position to create value by applying our
engineering and exploration skills and equipment at all stages of
project development.”
For further information please
contact:
Origo Partners
plc
Chris
Rynning
chris@origoplc.com
Niklas Ponnert
niklas@origoplc.com
Broker and Nominated
Adviser
Liberum Capital Limited
Simon Atkinson / Richard
Bootle +44 (0)20 3100 2222
Public Relations
(Origo)
Aura Financial
Andy Mills / Nina
Legge
+44 (0)20 7321 0000
Trafigura
Global Media
Office
+44 (0)20 7009 1708 / media@trafigura.com