Former Xstrata CEO Mick Davis Heads New Company


Noble Group, which recently announced that it and private investment firm TPG each would invest $500
million in new mining venture X2 Resources, manages a global portfolio of supply chain arrangements,
mapped here, for a range of metals, minerals, ores and other commodities.
Noble Group Ltd. and TPG announced on September 30 that they will each invest $500 million in a new private mining venture, X2 Resources, that has been established by a team of former Xstrata executives headed by former Xstrata CEO Mick Davis, former Xstrata CFO Trevor Reid, and “a team of executives responsible for the creation of Xstrata” (the X2 team). X2 Resources “will seek value creating opportunities in the mining and metals sector,” the announcement said.

Davis and the other members of the X2 team left Xstrata following completion of the Glencore-Xstrata merger in May. Over the course of the previous decade, they built Xstrata into one of the world’s top five diversified mining companies.

“The X2 Resources investment proposition is to create a new mid-tier diversified mining and metals group by leveraging the extensive track record of the X2 team in identifying and acquiring assets and businesses at an opportune time in the cycle and applying their proven approach to integration and value enhancement to the resulting portfolio of operations,” the announcement stated.

Noble will be X2 Resources’ preferred marketer and provider of supply chain management and logistics services. The company manages a portfolio of global supply chains covering a range of agricultural and energy products, as well as metals, minerals and ores. The company operates from more than 140 locations worldwide, facilitating the marketing, processing, financing and transportation of essential raw materials. It sources bulk commodities primarily from South America, South Africa, Australia and Indonesia, and supplies high-growth demand markets, particularly in Asia and the Middle East.

Noble is ranked No. 76 in the 2013 Fortune Global 500.

TPG is a leading global private investment firm founded in 1992, with $55.3 billion of assets under management. The firm’s investments span a variety of industries, including a wide range of energy sector businesses, as well as industrials.

Nobel CEO Yusuf Alireza said, “Noble’s partnership with X2 and TPG brings together the complementary skill sets of the X2 team’s unparalleled experience in building major diversified mining companies with our expertise as a global supply-chain manager and TPG’s global investment franchise. The investment is consistent with our previously communicated strategy of focusing primarily on our core competence as a supply chain manager rather than a producer of natural resources.”

The companies are in discussions with other potential investors who might be interested in investing in X2 Resources.

As featured in Womp 2013 Vol 11 - www.womp-int.com