Glencore 'ready to pay premium to acquire Xstrata'

Swiss-based commodities trader Glencore is willing to offer a higher than expected premium to clinch its acquisition of global mining giant Xstrata, the Financial Times reported on Monday. Xstrata shareholders will receive 2.8 shares for each Glencore share they hold, representing a premium of 8 percent over the closing price on Wednesday said the financial daily newspaper. The deal would create a company worth $88 billion (67.5 billion euros) and details finalised over the weekend could be announced Tuesday with the annual results of the Zug-based mining group. The current shareholders of Glencore would own 56 percent of the new combined entity. The group managing director of Baar-based Glencore, Ivan Glasenberg, would become the largest shareholder with a nine percent stake, the Financial Times said. Xstrata confirmed Thursday it was approached by Glencore for a merger between the two commodity specialists, an operation expected for several months and that would create the third largest company in the sector in terms of market capitalisation. On Thursday after rising sharply at the London Stock Exchange, shares for the two retreated Monday morning. Glencore declined by 4.11 percent to 462.70 pence and Xstrata lost 2.61 percent to 1,249.50 pence in a market down 0.50 percent at 1000 GMT.