American investment bank JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) now owns a 9.05% stake in Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) after picking up more shares in the lithium miner.
JPMorgan is the largest bank in the US – and the world’s largest by market capitalisation in 2023 – with a current market capitalisation of US$635.64 billion ($957.95 billion).
The investment bank increased its interest from 7% after buying a further 61.9 million shares.
JPMorgan now holds around 272.6 million shares in Pilbara Minerals, which has a market capitalisation of $8.19 billion.
Pilbara Minerals recently secured a $1 billion revolving credit facility with a group of domestic and international banks.
Fellow American investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), which has a market capitalisation of US$166.3 billion, has also raised its stake in the miner and now owns 6.63% with a portfolio of 199.7 million shares.
This comes after Goldman Sachs acquired a 5.2% interest in South America-focused lithium explorer Latin Resources (ASX:LRS), which is in the process of being taken over by Pilbara Minerals.
In mid-August Pilbara Minerals entered into a binding scheme implementation agreement with Latin Resources, a tie-up that will give Pilbara Minerals control of the Salinas Lithium Project in Brazil, which the company believes has potential to become a top 10 hard rock lithium operation by production globally.
CEO Dale Henderson said at the time the acquisition provides Pilbara Minerals with optionality to sequence new supply and diversify into new growth markets for lithium such as Europe and North America.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Pilbara Minerals
