[miningmx.com] — THE proposed $65bn merger between commodities
trader Glencore and global miner Xstrata is on the brink of failure after the
sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, Xstrata’s second-largest shareholder, has said it will
oppose the terms of the deal, Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
The announcement by Qatar Holding, which has a 11% stake in Xstrata, means that
about a quarter of shareholders are against the deal’s current terms; more than
enough to block the merger.
Qatar said that it saw merit in a combination of the two companies, reports
Financial Times, but was “seeking improved merger terms’. Glencore is
offering 2.8 of its shares for each of the miner’s, but Qatar said an exchange ratio of
3.25 per share “would provide a more appropriate distribution of benefits of the
merger’.
The move came after the merger between the world’s largest commodities trader
and the blue-chip miner had already been called into doubt by protests from other
shareholders over proposed retention payments for Xstrata’s senior executives.
Read the full Financial Times report here.
