Could a joint venture for Hartree Partners and Wanxiang Resources be on the cards?

Are privately owned Hartree Partners and Wanxiang Resources setting up a commodities trading joint venture in China?

According to sources from Reuters, that’s exactly what’s happening.

Based in Shanghai and expected to be up and running this year, the venture would represent a further step in Hartree’s bid to branch out from its core energy markets into base and ferrous metals, coal and agricultural commodities.

With neither company confirming or denying the JV, we are left to wonder.

But here’s what we know about Hartree Partners and Wanxiang Resources.

Joint venture at the heart of Hartree

Hartree was established in 1997 as Hess Energy Trading Company (HETCO) which in turn was a joint venture between Hess Corporation and Stephen Hendal and Stephen Semlitz – the founding partners of the company.

It wasn’t until 2014, in which Oaktree Capital acquired Hess Corporation’s interests in HETCO and the new company took on the name Hartree Partners, LP.

The company is a global merchant commodities firm specialising in energy and its associated industries – hence the JV into the metals and coal industries.

Hartree has a global reach spanning 10 offices and approximately 85 traders and originators.

Th growing influence of Wanxiang

Established in 1969, Wanxiang was one of the 120 experimental enterprises chosen by the Chinese State Council.

The company is part of the Wanxiang Group, which focuses on the sustainable development of enterprises.  Aiming at developing its information-based management, marketable capital, global service network, world-wide cooperation, and international brand, the Wanxiang Resources trades Base metals and Ferrous Metals in various fields including automobile parts manufacturing, high-tech agriculture, aquaculture as well as supplying new energy, promising to supply high-quality services to customers through a global network.

Wanxiang Resources is one of the major participants in the flow of natural resources in and out of China. It provides logistics, financing and other supply chain services to producers and consumers of commodities.

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