Mick Davis, who built Xstrata into one of the world’s biggest mining companies, is trying to do it again.

Davis, a 56-year-old South African former cricket umpire, is considering a bid for the nickel business of Brazil’s Vale, the world’s top producer of the metal, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Davis’s investment vehicle, X2 Resources, values Vale’s nickel business at $5-billion to $7-billion.

Through a decade of 40 mergers and expansions, Davis increased Xstrata’s market value more than 80 times, to $50-billion, while the company became the world’s biggest exporter of power station coal. After it agreed to be acquired in 2012 by Glencore International in a $30 billion deal, Davis was to lead the combined company. The power sharing agreement collapsed when Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg demanded the title.

Davis’s X2 has since raised about $4.8-billion from equity investors and has been hunting for assets to buy from the world’s largest miners, such as Vale, BHP Billiton and Anglo American.

“Mick always does things in a big way and I think he really wants to prove to the world that Xstrata wasn’t a fluke, that he can do this all over again,” says Ken Hoffman, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

X2 declined to comment on the potential bid. Rio-based Vale says it has not received any proposal or held talks with X2 about its nickel assets. Vale has already said it may try to raise cash by selling some of its assets.

A successful deal for the Vale assets could mean a return not only for Davis but also for more private-equity investments in mining, according to Hoffman. While buyout funds are flush with capital, they have struggled to land deals as commodity prices declined.

“If he comes out and does a great deal, I think it’s good for all the rest of these guys,” Hoffman says.

Davis grew up in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, where he became the country’s youngest qualified cricket umpire. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Rhodes University, before becoming an accountant.

He landed at South African miner Gencor in 1994, helping to turn it into what became Billiton. Davis left to join Xstrata in 2001, when Billiton was bought by BHP.

At Xstrata, Davis created a diversified mining company, riding a boom in metal prices as Chinese economic growth fuelled what became known as the commodities supercycle. He completed deals with a total value of $33.6-billion. The biggest takeover was the $18-billion acquisition of Falconbridge in Canada, the largest successful hostile bid ever in mining, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

By the time Glencore made its bid, Xstrata had sales of $33.9-billion in 2011 and more than 70 000 employees in 20 countries, compared with fewer than 2 500 when Davis joined.

He was set to become CEO of the combined Glencore-Xstrata company until Glasenberg raised his bid and demanded that he lead the company. Davis was paid $7-million after terminating the agreement.

Davis’s financial backers include Asia’s largestraw materials trader, Noble Group, private-equity fund TPG Capital and sovereign wealth and pension funds.
Should X2 make an offer, it will not be the first time Davis has targeted major nickel assets. Falconbridge was one of the world’s largest producers of the metal when it was acquired in 2006.

Falconbridge’s big Canadian rival at the time was Inco, the nickel producer that Vale bought for $18.2-billion in 2007. Eight years later, Davis is considering a bid for the former Inco assets.