[miningmx.com] — XSTRATA has never been approached by its biggest shareholder, Glencore, with a merger proposal, Xstrata’s chief executive said.
Speculation swirled earlier this year that privately-held Glencore, the world’s biggest commodities trader, wanted to link up with Xstrata before listing.
“Newspapers have written a lot,” Mick Davis told an investor seminar in response to a question.
“I can tell you now that I have not had one proposal from Glencore suggesting that they merge with Xstrata.”
Many Xstrata investors rejected the idea of a merger with Glencore, which owns about 35% of Xstrata, before a listing that could establish a valuation of Swiss-based Glencore
Sources close to the situation said recently Glencore was working on an IPO for next year.
Davis assured investors that the management and board of the Anglo-Swiss miner would look after its biggest investor base.
“If they ever made that (merger) proposal, it will be considered like everything else, but in the context of what I’ve just said, what is in the interests of the 65 percent of shareholders.”
Glencore has always been a very supportive shareholder, Davis added.
