Turkish Nickel Bull Plans $2 Billion M&A Spree to Rival China

Turkish billionaire Robert Yuksel Yildirim is on a $2 billion hunt for nickel mines, betting that the battery metal’s price will rebound and that the West will want those supplies to cut its reliance on China.

After making his fortune in chrome and shipping under family conglomerate Yildirim Holding AS, he spun off those businesses this year into CoreX Holding. The new venture already has some nickel-processing facilities, and with prices near a multiyear low, Yildirim sees now as a good time to scale up.

Nickel has slid as Chinese firms ramped up output in Indonesia, leading to fire ...