Aurubis, Europe's largest copper producer, is strongly opposed to a sale of the London Metal Exchange (LME) because a new owner could change a pricing system vital to industrial users' business models, an executive at the German company said.
Aurubis executive board member Stefan Boel told Reuters the company would vote against the sale of the LME, no matter what the price, and that other industry shareholders would likely do the same. "I would be surprised if other industry players would be in favour of a sale. From all indications I have got that would not be the case," he said. The LME declined to comment. The LME uses a unique prompt date structure, which sets it apart from other futures exchanges.
Aurubis, a traditional user and shareholder in the exchange, punches above its weight. While it is one of the smaller stakeholders in the LME, the 146-year-old company is a big voice in the copper industry in Europe. It produces 1 million tonnes of copper cathodes a year from copper concentrate, scrap and recycling raw materials and is the world's largest copper recycler.