Shenghe Resources Holding Co Ltd

Reuters reported on September 18, 2026 that state-owned China Rare Earth Group is in talks to acquire Shenghe Resources, which holds a roughly 3% stake in US rare earths company MP Materials Corp. and serves as MP's exclusive offtake partner for distributing rare earth concentrate in China. A deal would extend Beijing's consolidation of its rare earths sector to one of the last major Chinese firms in the space with private ownership. Shenghe's roughly 3% holding would not give China Rare Earth Group operational control over MP, which has repeatedly stated that neither Shenghe nor the Chinese government controls its operations, and the U.S. Department of Defense became MP's largest shareholder through a $400 million preferred-equity investment. MP stopped shipping rare-earth concentrate to China in April 2025 and terminated its Shenghe offtake agreement, while the Pentagon provided a 10-year NdPr price floor, long-term magnet purchase commitments and a $150 million loan, and Apple committed $500 million to purchase and develop U.S.-made magnets with MP. Shenghe publicly denied that its controlling shareholder planned a transfer, and Reuters' sources could not determine what would happen to Shenghe's foreign stakes or how the unusual shareholder combination involving China Rare Earth Group and the Pentagon might affect the transaction. Hedge fund count for MP Materials slipped to 50 funds in the second quarter from 52 in the first, even as position value rose to $1.01 billion from $619.1 million, according to Insider Monkey's database.