Vale SA will halt new investments in low-return segments like its nickel business, the company’s chief executive officer said on Wednesday.
Fabio Schvarstman told investors in a conference in New York on Wednesday that he expects nickel prices to recover over the medium term, as demand for the metal rises thanks to demand from battery producers. Schvartsman said he expects Vale’s share discount to its peers to shrink in the coming months, as the company migrates to a single class of stock.
BHP Billiton said on Thursday it hopes to fully divest its troubled U.S. onshore shale business in around two years and is also seeking a buyer for its nickel business in Australia.
The renewed push to unload both sets of assets, which the world’s biggest mining company no longer deems strategic, comes as prices for oil and nickel enjoy a price resurgence.
“Nickel West is non-core, shale is non-core,” Mackenzie told reporters following the company’s annual general meeting in Melbourne.
Source: Reutes
