Mining veteran Mick Davis has declared he has finished fundraising for his new company which he set up to buy unloved mining assets.
Davis, whose fledgling X2 business is his third mining company creation after Billiton and Xstrata, has raised $5.6 billion (£3.7 billion).
That means that, when he adds bank debt, he can spend up to about $15 billion.
Davis has been coy about who his backers are. Commodities tycoon Richard Elman’s trading giant Noble and US private equity group TPG Capital have been revealed as two such, along with numerous sovereign wealth and pension funds — what Davis calls “blue-chip” investors.
The closing of the fundraising means X2 now moves into its acquisition phase in earnest at a time when all the big mining giants are looking to sell assets.
“We continue to review carefully a number of opportunities in the sector in detail,” said Davis.
The $5.6 billion is made up of $4 billion committed equity capital which is available immediately. A further $1.6 billion is conditional on numerous criteria.
