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Ivan Glasenberg was known as the great white shark of global resources industry when he was running Glencore, the world’s biggest commodities trader and one of the biggest mining companies. He never shied away from tough, even seemingly impossible, takeover battles and won more than he lost.
Take the epic fist fight in 2005 and 2006 for Canada’s premier nickel mining companies, Falconbridge and Inco. At the time, Glencore was private but owned 40 per cent of Xstrata, which in effect operated as Glencore’s listed machine for mergers and acquisitions. (In 2011, Glencore joined the London Stock Exchange and bought all of Xstrata two years later.)
The takeover attempts for the two companies turned global and it appeared that Glencore-Xstrata would face a humiliating retreat. Xstrata nailed a quarter of Falconbridge and wanted the rest, but Inco signed what looked like an airtight deal to merge with its rival.
Xstrata responded by launching a hostile bid for Falconbridge, then Vancouver’s Teck Resources, American copper giant Phelps Dodge and Brazil’s Vale entered the fray. The battle for the Canadian companies turned chaotic, nasty, crazy expensive and entirely unpredictable.
For the rest of this column: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-how-glencore-the-shark-in-the-resources-pond-could-still-win-teck/