Glencore Will ‘Move On’ If Qatar Blocks Xstrata Deal, Chief Says

Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) --
"Glencore International Plc, the Swiss commodities trader seeking to buy Xstrata Plc for $30 billion, said it will “move on” should Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund block its bid for the mining company.


“If they vote against the deal, they will block the deal,” Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg said in a phone interview. “From my point of view, from Glencore’s point of view so be it. It’s not the end of the world. We will move on.”

Glencore’s planned takeover of Xstrata, set for an investor vote on Sept. 7, has a 60 percent chance of being rejected, UBS AG said yesterday. Glasenberg has repeatedly rebuffed calls to raise the bid even as Qatar Holding LLC has boosted its stake to near 12 percent while saying it wants a sweetened offer.

“I don’t quite understand the Qataris’ reason and logic because the Qataris have not been a big shareholder of Xstrata previously,” Glasenberg said today. “We can always look and if the Qataris believe they got it right, then let’s talk in a year or two years’ time, and we’ll see who got it right.”

Glencore reported first-half profit dropped 26 percent, beating analysts’ estimates, after prices for commodities fell.

Net income excluding exceptional items shrank to $1.8 billion from $2.4 billion a year earlier, the Baar, Switzerland- based company said today in a statement. That compares with the $1.6 billion average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. It declared a dividend of 5.4 cents a share.


To contact the reporter on this story: Jesse Riseborough in London at jriseborough@bloomberg.net "



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