Commodities Giant Glencore Plans $11B IPO
BAAR, Switzerland (
) --
Glencore
, the world's largest commodities trading company, plans to raise up to $11 billion in an initial public offering next month.
Glencore plans to sell 15% to 20% of its stock in London; the IPO values the company at up to $60 billion.
"Over many decades, we have developed Glencore into an unrivaled global integrated commodity producer and marketer, active in almost every bulk commodity market," said CEO Ivan Glasenberg in a statement Thursday.
"An IPO is the next logical step in our development and strategy. It will provide us with the financial flexibility to capitalize upon long-term growth opportunities throughout our business and achieve further sustainable growth," he said.
Glencore has a large share of the global trade in coal, copper, corn and other raw materials, and has about 55,000 employees in 40 countries, according to
The Associated Press
. The company earned $3.8 billion last year on sales of $145 billion.
Reuters
reported that details of the offering didn't include the appointment of a new non-executive chairman for the group, a requirement for its listing.
"It is an important decision, we are just working through the final process. We have chosen someone, so we should announce it shortly," Glasenberg told
Reuters
.
Glencore plans to propose former
BP
CEO Tony Hayward for a senior role on its board, alongside Glasenberg and Steven Kalmin, Glencore's chief financial officer.
-- Written by Joseph Woelfel
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