London 27/01/2014 - Rene van der Kam is joining global energy trader Gunvor at the end of February to help the firm's metal expansion plans, industry sources said.
Van der Kam, who was director of base metals at Noble Group until November last year, will join Gunvor as global head of physical metals. He will remain based in Singapore.
Prior to his stint at Noble, Van der Kam worked at RBS Sempra, Barclays Capital and Enron. He is a member of the London Metal Exchange's tin committee.
Former Noble metal trader Julie Zhu Yingping and former Cargill trader Marc Bonter will also start at Gunvor in Singapore next month, FastMarkets understands. They will join precious metal trader Cedric Chaneu, who moved from Deutsche Bank in January.
Gunvor spokesman Seth Thomas Pietras declined to comment on the new hires but confirmed Chaneu's employment.
Like Mercuria and Vitol, Gunvor has global aspirations and ambitious plans to develop non-energy commodities such as iron ore, coal and metals, sources told FastMarkets. In metals, it already has a team in Shanghai and Singapore and is likely to build one in Geneva as well.
Gunvor was one of the bidders for JP Morgan's physical metal and oil business including warehousing firm Henry Bath & Sons but the firm withdrew from the latest bidding round this month, FastMarkets understands.
Gunvor, which was established in Russia in 2000, is now a global company owned by billionaires Torbjorn Tornqvist and Gennady Timchenko.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)