Glencore lays out final bid for Xstrata
Glencore laid out its revised final bid to Xstrata this morning, raising the offer but warning it will not improve it further.
On Friday, the commodities giant raised the share ratio to 3.05 new Glencore shares for every Xstrata share, up from 2.8 as previously offered.
Glencore also demanded that chief executive Ivan Glasenberg be chief of the new group, after a six-month interim period under Xstrata’s Mick Davis.
The commodities giant confirmed that the revised offer, worth £36bn, is an “all-share merger” and that “it will not increase the merger ratio further”.
“The increased merger ratio represents a substantial premium for a company with a 34 per cent shareholder,” it said in a statement.
Independent directors of Xstrata will now consider the revised proposal, and will announce whether they intend to put it to Xstrata shareholders before 24 September.
Charles Gibson, head of mining at Edison Investment Research, said today: “That the offer terms make clear it is a timefinal offer indicate Qatar has been brought onside.
“Meanwhile the emphasis on the retention of Sir John Bond rather than Mick Davis is a sign that Xstrata’s chief executive feels no compunction to stay on after the merger after realising better terms for shareholders, including himself.”