Glencorehas challenged Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund to accept its all-share offer for miner Xstrata, signalling for the first time in public that it is ready to walk away from the multi-billion dollar merger.
Ivan Glasenberg, chief executive, raised the stakes yesterday by saying the world’s largest commodities trader was prepared to abandon the transaction, which was valued at $90bn when announced in February.
“If it does not happen – no big deal,” he said in a conference call as Glencore released better-than-expected interim results. “It is not the only deal that can be done,” he added, pointing to other Glencore acquisitions including its C$6.1bn (US$6.2bn) purchase of Toronto-listed grain handler Viterrasince the merger plans with Xstrata were announced.