From Mineweb:
Reports suggest that mega-metals trader Glencore is to go ahead with a London IPO, which would value the company at over £30 million, in the New Year
LONDON -
In what U.K. newspapers say could be the largest stock market IPO of the year, weekend reports say that the big Swiss-headquartered metals mining and trading company, Glencore International, is moving ever closer to a London IPO.
The report, first published in the Sunday Times, said that Glencore, which owns 34.6% of mega-miner Xstrata, has taken on investment banks Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley, is looking at an IPO as soon as April, and is considering floating around 20% of the company to raise over £6 billion.
The commodities giant was set up in 1974 by billionaire commodities trader Marc Rich, then a fugitive from the American courts who sold out to management in 1994. . Rich had been indicted in the US on federal charges of illegally making oil deals with Iran during the late 1970s-early 1980s Iran hostage crisis and tax evasion. He was in Switzerland at the time of the indictment and never returned to the U.S.
If the IPO does go ahead it will be one of the largest ever on the London Stock Exchange. Reports suggest that Glencore is also looking at a secondary listing in Hong Kong.
Glencore is one of the world's largest suppliers of commodities and raw materials, and is also among the world's largest privately held companies. It is one of Europe's largest companies by turnover and is wholly-owned by its management....MORE
