SEA Deal Ticker
Rare earths without China: Korea's LS Eco Energy pays US$8.3M for a Saigon samarium maker
LS Eco Energy is buying 58% of Global Shre Metal for US$8.3 million (₩11.6 billion). The Ho Chi Minh City plant will make 240 tonnes a year of samarium, a rare-earth metal for defence and high-tech parts, from December.
Positive-sum angle: Western defence buyers want rare earths from outside China, and Vietnam just took its second foreign metals deal in a week; suppliers of chemicals, machining and freight around Ho Chi Minh City have a new kind of customer.