Glencore delays $26bn Xstrata bid

Commodities trader Glencore yesterday pushed back its $26bn bid for miner Xstrata after shareholder Qatar stunned the pair with a late demand for better terms. The Qatari intervention pushed the deal to the brink as it prompted a string of major shareholders to revisit their own concerns, such as soaring executive pay and fears that the combined entity would take on riskier business. “Three cheers for the Qataris,” Richard Buxton, head of UK equities at Schroders, told Reuters. “We’ve said all along that the ratio was wrong so they’ve either now got to improve the terms or see this deal get voted down.”