[miningmx.com] – IVAN GLASENBERG rebuffed calls by analysts to raise
Glencore’s $36.3bn all-share offer for Xstrata, telling Bloomberg News that most deals
in a merger of equals had been done at similar ratios.
The transaction had been “negotiated for a long time, fully accepted by Xstrata’s CEO
and unanimously accepted by their board, so therefore that’s the price,” Glasenberg
told Bloomberg News.
“I’m a little lost why people are expecting us to pay a bigger premium than what has
been put on the table,’ he said.
“Hopefully, when they look at the numbers and people review the numbers and they
do their workings on the deal, they will realise that if it is a merger of equals, which it
has been set out as, it’s a fair price,’ Glasenberg said. He declined to say whether the
current bid was his final offer.
Shareholders holding a combined 16.48% of Xstrata can block the deal. Glencore
holds 34% of Xstrata but can’t exercise these shares in the vote.
