London — An investment firm founded by Russian billionaire Vladimir Iorich is following its winning bet on cobalt in 2017 by creating a $150m fund to buy into metals used in electric cars. Pala New Energy Metals will invest in cobalt, lithium, vanadium, rare earths, nickel and tin. Pala Investments started the fund with its own money and cash from other investors. The firm previously snapped up cobalt, anticipating surging demand from vehicle makers, which more than doubled prices in the past year. "We have been focused on the evolution of the battery chemistries and this has allowed us to invest early in different components of the battery," Stephen Gill, managing partner at Swiss-based Pala Investments, said in an interview. "We hope to continue to be ahead of the curve as technologies evolve." The company was among investors to buy up physical cobalt before selling it for cash and shares in Cobalt 27 Capital, which was listed in Canada in 2017 to offer equity investors a way to t...
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