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Qatar Investment Authority Invests $180 million in TechMet

The Qatari flag is seen at a park near Doha Corniche, in Doha, Qatar February 17, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem al Omari/File Photo
The Qatari flag is seen at a park near Doha Corniche, in Doha, Qatar February 17, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem al Omari/File Photo
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Qatar Investment Authority Invests $180 million in TechMet

The Qatari flag is seen at a park near Doha Corniche, in Doha, Qatar February 17, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem al Omari/File Photo
The Qatari flag is seen at a park near Doha Corniche, in Doha, Qatar February 17, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem al Omari/File Photo

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) announced on Wednesday an initial $180 million investment in TechMet, a company focused on building businesses across the critical minerals value chain, from extraction and processing to refining and recycling.

This investment aligns with QIA’s ambition to invest in a broad range of areas in the industrial sectors such as critical minerals, which are required to advance the clean energy transition and to help address the growing demand in the global market for sustainable energy solutions, QIA said in a statement.

“We are delighted to partner with TechMet to invest in the responsible sourcing of critical minerals, which are crucial to the global green transition,” said Chief Investment Officer of Americas at QIA Mohammed Al-Sowaidi.

“This investment builds on QIA’s theme of diversified energy transition and critical minerals investments,” he added.

For his part, TechMet Founder, Chairman and CEO, Brian Menell, said: “QIA’s investment further highlights TechMet’s position as a leading global critical minerals investment company.”

In a statement, TechMet said the funds will be used to develop both its existing assets and to continue to build its portfolio with strategic projects that scale production and refining of its target critical minerals, which include lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earths.

The announcement sees TechMet meet its $300 million fundraising target, adding to a follow-on investment from S2G Ventures, bringing their total commitment to $50 million; and an additional $50 million from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

Now valued at well over $1 billion, TechMet is one of the largest private investors in critical minerals supply chains.

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Xi: China Will Defuse External Shocks to Promote Sustained Economic Recovery

A woman holds a red paper with Chinee calligraphy “Good Fortune” as people line up to get the red paper ahead of the Lunar New Year in Beijing, Wednesday Jan. 22, 2025 (AP)
A woman holds a red paper with Chinee calligraphy “Good Fortune” as people line up to get the red paper ahead of the Lunar New Year in Beijing, Wednesday Jan. 22, 2025 (AP)
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Xi: China Will Defuse External Shocks to Promote Sustained Economic Recovery

A woman holds a red paper with Chinee calligraphy “Good Fortune” as people line up to get the red paper ahead of the Lunar New Year in Beijing, Wednesday Jan. 22, 2025 (AP)
A woman holds a red paper with Chinee calligraphy “Good Fortune” as people line up to get the red paper ahead of the Lunar New Year in Beijing, Wednesday Jan. 22, 2025 (AP)

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday said that his country will guard against and defuse risks in key areas and external shocks in 2025, to promote sustained economic recovery.

Xi was speaking at a high-level reception to ring in the Chinese New Year, according to China’s state-run agency, Xinhua.

China's manufacturing activity shrank in January for the first time in four months, official data showed Monday, as Beijing battles to sustain the recovery in the world's second-largest economy.

Policymakers have battled to reverse a post-pandemic slump driven by a crisis in the property sector, weak consumption and high government debt.

The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) - a key measure of industrial output - came in at 49.1 in January, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), below the 50-point mark that separates growth and contraction.

The reading was down from 50.1 in December, which was its third straight month in positive territory after ending a six-month decline in October.

January's slide was “affected by the approaching Lunar New Year holiday and the concentrated return of business employees to their hometowns,” NBS statistician Zhao Qinghe said.

Both production and demand slowed in the run-up to the eight-day public holiday from January 28 to February 4, Zhao said.

“Economic momentum unexpectedly slowed in both manufacturing and service sectors ahead of the Chinese New Year,” Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, wrote in a note.

“Part of the slowdown may be due to weaker external demand, as the new export orders index dropped to the lowest level since March last year,” Zhang added.

Beijing has unveiled a string of aggressive measures in recent months aimed at boosting growth, including cutting interest rates, cancelling restrictions on homebuying and easing the debt burden on local governments.

But economists have warned that more direct fiscal stimulus aimed at shoring up domestic consumption is needed to restore full health in the economy, which has struggled to fully recover since the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the markets, China stocks fell on Monday, the last day before the Lunar New Year holiday, as a surprise contraction in manufacturing activity and lingering concerns about US tariffs offset the optimism from government efforts to introduce long-term capital. However, in Hong Kong, tech shares led the market higher.

The Shanghai Composite Index finished down 0.1% at 3,250 while the Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 0.7% at 20,197.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs and sanctions on Colombia - now on hold after a deal was reached - reminded investors that Trump is serious about his tariff pledges.

(The) “Tariff risks might have been delayed, but not derailed,” Morgan Stanley said in a note, estimating that weighted average tariff rate on China will rise from 10% at the end of 2024 to 26% by the end of 2025 and 36% in 2026.

These concerns dampened the excitement from signs that institutional money is starting to flow into the stock market after Beijing set specific targets last week to introduce long-term capital from insurers and mutual funds.

Three insurers, including China Pacific Insurance and Taikang Life, got regulatory approval to invest 52 billion yuan ($7.16 billion) into stocks via a newly-established fund, state media reported.