Not waiting for JPMorgan, Mercuria plots global metals push

By Josephine Mason and Melanie Burton

NEW YORK/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Swiss commodity trader Mercuria, known best for its energy prowess, is now mounting an audacious challenge to metal titans like Glencore Plc and Trafigura AG [TRAFGF.UL], but not in the way that industry sources had expected.

Rather than relying on its pending $3.5 billion (2.13 billion pounds) purchase of JPMorgan Chase & Co's physical commodity business to build out its China-focused metals business into a global powerhouse, the upstart trader has hired a new global metals trading head and is now quietly preparing a move into new markets, according to four sources familiar with its strategy.

Earlier this month, Trafigura's former global refined metals chief Tristan Busch joined Mercuria as global head of metals, spearheading a foray into North and South America and Europe, the sources said. It is the firm's first major expansion since starting trading copper, aluminium and other base metals just over two years ago.

Meanwhile, Mercuria will not retain JPMorgan's top metal traders, Sam Hainsworth and Ivan Petev, when the acquisition is completed in the next few weeks, the four sources said.

Also, the size of the bank's trading book has shrunk in the past year, as long-term contracts have expired during the year-long sales process, they added.

Mercuria and JPMorgan declined to comment.

Founded a decade ago by two former Goldman Sachs oil traders, Mercuria will undertake a significant strategic shift to broaden its business beyond the high-volume Chinese copper financing deals that helped make it the world's third-largest base metals trader, handling over one million tonnes per year.

With China now embroiled in a scandal over missing warehouse stockpiles, Mercuria is focusing on the fiercely competitive business of securing offtake agreements and building relationships with producers and end users, the sources said.

Following the same strategy as its rivals, some traders have tagged Mercuria a "Trafigura Mark Two" in the making.

But it is also a similar model to the one carved out in energy trading by Mercuria founders Marco Dunand and Daniel Jaeggi, who have transformed a small trading house into a global competitor. Turnover topped $100 billion last year for the first time, with profit estimated at over $400 million.

CHINA FOCUS

Mercuria's current metals business now mainly deals in base metals from its Chinese headquarters in Shanghai under the helm of another Trafigura alumni and copper trader James Wu. It has about 50 personnel in China, including about 10 traders, according to two sources.

Busch, who led Trafigura's charge into aluminium almost a decade ago before being promoted to global head of refined metal in 2011, will oversee Wu and veteran trader Jose Leon who started Mercuria's concentrates trading operations late last year.

While Leon and Busch are based in Geneva and the firm has several staff in the Lulumbashi, the Democratic Republic of Congo's copper belt, Mercuria's global presence is limited, sources say.

In at least one way that will change substantially when Mercuria closes its deal to buy the JPMorgan business, including the centuries-old Henry Bath & Sons Ltd metals warehousing unit, a prize asset with sheds stretching from Singapore to Rotterdam and about 25 staff. That will help Mercuria push into consumer business as well as juggle inventory around the world.

JPMorgan's operations also have a long and distinguished pedigree as one of the largest and most successful metals businesses in the world, with roots back to legendary German trading house Metallgesellschaft and, more recently, Sempra Commodities.

Despite its history, however, the portion of the business being sold is "symbolic" compared with its vast energy operations, according to a source close to JPMorgan.

It is not clear how many traders the firm will hire as part of the push. JPMorgan metals staff will only account for a small share of the less than 200 people it will retain out of the 400-strong business, sources have said.

Long-time aluminium trader Hainsworth, who joined the desk 14 years ago from Barclays, may leave the bank after the deal is signed, the four sources who know the traders said.

The timing is not known because it has not been officially announced yet.

While Petev, who deals in copper from Singapore, will not join Mercuria, it is not clear if he will stay at JPMorgan after the signing.

Both were formerly traders at Sempra Commodities, where Dunand and Jaeggi also worked in the early 2000. They moved from RBS Sempra to the Wall Street bank with the acquisition in 2010.

BEYOND REPOS

Mercuria has been one of the most successful new entrants on the metals market in recent years, even as competition from other energy trading house Gunvor [GGL.UL] and Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual [BTG.UL] has intensified.

The mainstay of its meteoric growth has been through so-called repo deals in China, which give companies access to short-term credit in exchange for goods, three sources familiar with the company have said.

"It's huge, it's China centric and all they do is trade repos. It's going in the right direction, but it needs more focus on stuff beyond repo," said one of the four sources familiar with the strategy.

Suspected fraud at China's Qingdao port has left banks and trading firms exposed to billions of dollars of losses and curbed the market's appetite for repo deals though.

Mercuria had alumina worth about $44 million stuck at the port, one of China's largest, and the company is facing legal action from Trafigura's warehouse business Impala.

(Editing by Jonathan Leff and Marguerita Choy)