Reuters reports that Australian investment bank Macquarie Group has bought Deutsche Bank uranium book, a source familiar with the matter said, as the increasingly commodities-focused lender pushes deeper into global energy trading. The deal includes Deutsche long-term trading contracts and stockpiles of low-grade uranium yellowcake, which were valued at the end of last year at around 200 million US dollars.
Industry experts say they comprise enough uranium to fuel around 10 average-sized nuclear power plants for 12-18 months. The source said the deal was completed late this summer, but did not reveal how much it was worth. Macquarie has been growing its global energy business and is now seen as a top-five player among banks in raw materials trading, with the Australian firm expanding even as rivals retreat in the face of tighter regulations and lower margins.
The Australian bank previously looked at buying Goldman Sachs uranium trading business at the beginning of this year, sources said, but that deal appears to have fallen by the wayside. Goldman was the only other investment bank known to trade uranium in early 2014. In the 12 months to March, Macquarie earned AUS dollars of 1.1 billion (US970 million) in net income from commodities trading, propelling it into the big leagues of much-larger American rivals who have long dominated the sector.
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