Billionaires Koon and Song deepen aluminum partnership with $330 million deal

Malaysian tycoon Koon Poh Keong is expanding his partnership with Chinese billionaire Song Zuowen in a $330 million deal that will see a share swap between their aluminum companies.

Under the deal, Koons Press Metal Alumunium Holdings will sell its entire 25 percent stake in alumina producer Bintan Alumina Indonesia in exchange for a 25.6 percent stake in Songs Nanshan Aluminium International Holdings, it said in an announcement on Thursday.

Nanshan Aluminium, a subsidiary of Shandong Nanshan Aluminum, will be spun off and listed separately in Hong Kong to raise funds for future expansion. The company will file for its IPO after the proposed transaction with Press Metal is completed by July 31.

Press Metal acquired its stake in Bintan Alumina four years ago to secure supplies of alumina, a key raw material for its smelting operations. Nanshan Alumunium currently holds an indirect 72% stake in the Indonesian company.

Bintan Alumina operates a 2 million tonne per year alumina plant on the Indonesian island of Bintan, about an hour’s ferry ride from Singapore. The plant has its own power plant and private port, all within the Galang Batang Special Economic Zone. With demand for aluminium increasing, Shandong Nanshan announced plans last year to invest $6 billion to expand the plant on the island by 2028.

Koon and his siblings have a net worth of $5.3 billion and are ranked fifth on the list of Malaysia’s 50 richest people released in April. Press Metal, which the Koons founded in 1986 with a capital of $50,000, has become Southeast Asia’s largest integrated aluminum producer by output.

His partner Song has, according to Forbes Data. He controls the Nanshan Group, whose interests extend beyond aluminum, including clothing, education and airlines. The group listed its main aluminum company, Shandong Nanshan Aluminum, on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 1999.