Gary Nagle
Rainmakers & Potstirrers

Gary Nagle

CEO: Glencore

www.glencore.com

Rainmaker
Get our rainmakers & potstirrers app now
‘We believe the New York market would eat up a standalone coal company very quickly’

IN Gary LAST year was another busy one for Nagle. After “cleaning house” and dealing with the various investigations against the group in different jurisdictions, he jumped boots and all into M&A activity, with the biggest – and most difficult – deal being the purchase of Canadian group Teck’s coal business for $6.93bn. Nagle intends to combine it with Glencore’s existing thermal coal business and then demerge and list it separately in about two years’ time.

Other major deals pulled off last year were the purchase of the 56.25% stake in the copper-gold MARA Project in Argentina that Glencore did not already own, for $475m in cash, and the merger of its 49.99% stake in agribusiness company Viterra with US firm Bunge for $3.1bn in Bunge stock and $1bn in cash.

While the MARA deal seems insignificant in comparison with the other two it will require an estimated capital outlay of $6.4bn to build a mine that will produce 200,000 tons of copper annually. The Viterra deal also signalled progress on Nagle’s moves to get rid of non-core assets, another being the Mount Isa copper mine in Australia which will close by 2025. The developments with Teck also underscore Nagle’s determination to get his way. Glencore’s initial “friendly” approach to take over Teck was rejected by the Keevil family which effectively controlled the Teck board and management.

Nagle responded with the threat of a direct hostile takeover offer to Teck shareholders while at the same time dealing with Canadian ‘anti-Glencore’ sentiment on nationalistic grounds. That eventually did the trick. So – by any measure – Nagle’s first two years on the job at Glencore have been successful. The Glencore share price has doubled since he took over.

 

LIFE OF GARY

He’s a chartered accountant with degrees in commerce and accounting from the University of the Witwatersrand. He joined Glencore in Switzerland in 2000 as part of the coal development team after qualifying for his CA in 1999. Nagle worked for five years in Colombia as CEO of Prodeco and then moved to South Africa to be head of Glencore’s ferroalloy assets from 2013 to 2018. After that he headed up Glencore’s Australian coal business and also served on the board of Lonmin from 2013 to 2015. He became CEO in July 2021 after predecessor Ivan Glasenberg retired..

More Rainmakers & Potstirrers