Four years ago Kenny Ives was a contender to be the next chief executive of commodity trader Glencore. Instead, as head of trading house IXM, he now has a different role: building the company into China’s answer to his former employer.

Chinese-owned IXM, the world’s third-largest metals trader, is a key link in a global supply chain that provides China and other regions with materials used in electric vehicle batteries such as cobalt, copper and nickel.

The Geneva-based company has recently expanded into trading lithium — another key EV battery ingredient — Ives said in an interview with the Financial Times. It is also setting up new offices in South Korea, India and the Democratic Republic of Congo as it expands its global footprint outside China.