Glencore lays out final offer for mega-merger with Xstrata
GLENCORE laid out its revised final bid to Xstrata yesterday, raising the offer but warning it will not improve it further.
On Friday, the commodities giant raised the merger 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 yesterday that the offer terms made it clear shareholder Qatar had been brought onside.