Norilsk Wants to Buy Palladium Worth $2 Billion From Russia Cent. Bank

Discussion in 'Platinum' started by Kam, Sep 27, 2014.

  1. Kam

    Kam Active Member Silver Stacker

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    Russia's Norilsk Nickel and a group of private investors are in talks to buy palladium worth up to $2 billion from the country's Central Bank, Norilsk's chief executive and co-owner Vladimir Potanin said.

    Potanin, Russia's eighth richest man, said he was so convinced the market will be in a supply deficit that he would put his own money into palladium if the company ruled there was no conflict of interest.

    If the deal is agreed, Norilsk would be able to guarantee the availability of stock for long-term customers and to increase market transparency, Potanin said. Payment could involve a swap for platinum or cash.

    "We are interested in buying palladium, in some form, which is now owned by the government, primarily by the Central Bank," Potanin said in an interview at the Reuters Russia Investment Summit. Norilsk is the world's largest nickel and palladium producer.

    "We have proposed [the idea] to the government and the Central Bank," Potanin said. "We are in a dialogue on the issue."

    The deal, if agreed, would involve a pool of private investors and banking finance.

    The volume of palladium in the Central Bank's reserves is a state secret but it holds one of the world's biggest gold and foreign exchange reserves of around $460 billion.

    Palladium prices hit their highest since 2001 in London in early September, on fears that Western sanctions on Russia over its role in Ukraine could hit supply of the metal.

    Norilsk expects that the market for palladium, used in emissions-capping catalytic converters in automobiles and in jewelry, will be in a structural global deficit in 2015. It has the same view on nickel, which is used in making stainless steel.

    Asked how much palladium Norilsk would like to acquire from the bank, Potanin said: "I take into account the possibilities Norilsk Nickel has, the view of the banks that are ready to grant the financing and the pool of private investors that are ready to take part in this.

    "And we estimate our opportunities are up to $2 billion. We can structure the acquisition of palladium or instruments related to it," he said.

    He said the decision would depend on the Central Bank and added that Bank of America-Merrill Lynch had previously shown interest in the financing of such a deal and had not signaled any loss of interest since then.

    Norilsk, whose production accounts for about 40 percent of the global palladium market and one-fifth of the nickel market, markets its key metals on its own mainly to end-users.

    Its copper production accounts for a much smaller market share about 3 percent and the company has moved to what Potanin called an "opportunistic method of copper sales," which could involve selling metal to traders.
     
  2. Kam

    Kam Active Member Silver Stacker

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    $2 Billion at $813/oz gives about 76 Ton of Palladium
     
  3. alor

    alor Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    one of the big purchase so far :)
     
  4. Kael

    Kael New Member Silver Stacker

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    76 ton youtube unboxing......hahaha
     
  5. Eruaran

    Eruaran Member

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    I don't think Bank of America-Merrill Lynch will be getting a look in on that deal.
     
  6. SmartyFarty

    SmartyFarty Member

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    I have heard of plenty of billionaires that have amassed a large paper wealthy and then lose most of it.

    If I were rich I would put a "decent chunk" in precious metals also and preserve my wealth.
     
  7. phrenzy

    phrenzy In Memoriam - July 2017 Silver Stacker

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    I wish I could remember which documentary it was, I think it actually about Jackie, but I heard one of the former captains of Onassis's yachts say that was very much like that. He had seen the war and the revolution and the partisans and the communists on the border and knew as the world's richest man and a rival for the Greek state in many ways, that his wealth was at risk from political shifts. To deal with this he had secret arms caches at his home and on his giant yacht, which he da
    staffed with rx-commandos. He also had caches of hard wealth, and weapons on land stashed all over the world; millions in gold and enough hardware to fight a resistance with the people to do it in the southern US, central Canada, Australia, Japan, Britain and southern Germany (I assume they mean the Alps).

    He was set up for everything including a nuclear ww3.


    As long as he could make it to just one safe cache he could assure that he and his would be set up for generations.

    I'm surprised he's not a gold prepping hero...
     

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