Brazilian miner Vale Inco has dropped Inco from its name and henceforth its global nickel business will be simply known as Vale.
The former Inco Limited was acquired by the former CVRD in late 2006. It had operated around the world as Vale Inco since CVRD re-branded itself less than three years ago on Nov. 29, 2007. "Vale" is pronounced (vah-lay) and literally means "valley" in Portuguese.
"Our global nickel business will continue to be headquartered in Toronto," said Tito Martins, president and CEO of Vale's nickel operations in a news release May 27. "We have a very strong team in place and are building a long-term future for our operations around the world in Canada, Indonesia, New Caledonia, the United Kingdom, China, Japan and Brazil. Our nickel business today is larger than it was in 2006, when we first invested in Inco and we are building on that investment every day.
"We are positioning our company to meet the challenges of an increasingly competitive global marketplace," he continued. "Our objective is to ensure a sustainable, successful future for the business and the people and communities who rely on it."
Vale's nickel business has more than 11,000 employees worldwide and net sales in 2009 of US$3.26 billion, accounting for 13.6 per cent of Vale's overall global revenue.
International Nickel Company was first incorporated in New Jersey in April 1902. It was a combination of R.M. Thompson's New Jersey-based Orford Copper Company, American Samuel Ritchie's Cleveland, Ohio-based Canadian Copper Company, and the other major American refinery, the Joseph Wharton Company.
For $10 million, J. Pierpont Morgan, one of the late 19th and early 20th century's legendary so-called robber baron industrialists, and the financial interests behind U.S. Steel acquired Canadian Copper Company, Orford Copper Company and the Joseph Wharton Company and formed the International Nickel Company. The impetus for founding Inco was simple; the Steel Manufacturers Syndicate, known as the "steel trust," needed a stable, profitable and guaranteed supply of nickel.
In December 1928, Inco would become a Canadian company, exchanging shares between the former New Jersey parent and the Canadian subsidiary, to keep U.S. anti-trust regulators at bay.
When Vale acquired Inco in October 2006 in a $19.9-billion all-cash hostile tender takeover offer deal it was the largest-ever acquisition by a Latin American company. Valepar SA, the company that controls Vale, is owned by Previ, the employee pension fund of state-controlled Banco do Brasil SA; Bradespar SA, an industrial holding company; Mitsui & Co, Japan's second-largest trading company; and BNDES Participações SA. Created on June 1, 1942 by the Brazilian government, Vale was privatized on May 7, 1997.
Vale is the second largest diversified metals and mining company in the world, the world's largest producer of iron ore, and the world's second largest producer of nickel. Vale also produces manganese, ferroalloys, thermal and coking coal, bauxite, alumina, aluminum, copper, cobalt, platinum group metals, potash and kaolin. Vale is the largest private sector company in Latin America with a market capitalization of around US$ 150 billion and more than 500,000 shareholders.
