Tuesday, 2 October 2012

Glencore-Xstrata: just another notch on Qatar's bedpost

Sainsbury's, Harrods, Barclays Bank, Total and Paris-Saint-Germain FC – what do all these well-known European businesses have in common? They are all wholly or partly owned by Qatari investors.

The long running discussions concerning the multibillion dollar Glencore-Xstrata super commodities merger are just the latest example highlighting Qatar’s ever expanding worldwide influence.

Qatar Holding, Xstrata’s second-largest shareholder, is asking the Swiss firm Glencore for 3.25 shares to each Xstrata share to sign off the deal and pledge it will not accept Glencore' lower bid at 2.8. This fusion will create an industry giant. A herculean company whose revenues are estimated to be around $175bn.

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