Natexis Metals loses LME ring team to ED&F Man

There's been no official confirmation from either party but there's been a big buzz on the London "street" in the last 24 hours about what appears to be the pending wholesale departure of the LME ring-dealing team at Natexis Commodities Markets to ED&F Man.

Five or six traders, essentially the entire team, have resigned their positions, according to the scuttlebutt, with one dealer said to have left. The status of the rest of the team was unclear this morning.

An interesting point to note is the rumoured destination for the team. ED&F Man Commodity Advisers ("MCA") is part of the Man Group, which already has a unit—Man Financial —represented on the LME floor.

But the talk is specific that it is not the latter to which the team is heading, raising the possibility that a non-compete clause in metals trading between the two units has now expired.