Swiss commodities giant Glencore said today that it had raised about $10 billion through its initial public offering at the London and Hong Kong stock markets, an operation that it described as a success.
The stock market listing values the Baar-based group at approximately $59.2 billion and marks the biggest IPO so far this year.
'Glencore's offer has seen substantial interest from investors around the world and was significantly oversubscribed throughout the price range providing Glencore with a high quality, diverse and geographically spread investor base,' said Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore chief executive officer.
Admission and full dealing in the shares will begin on May 24 in London and May 25 in Hong Kong.
Glencore, the world's biggest commodities trader by revenue with $145 billion in 2010, has secured $3.1 billion from so-called cornerstone investors, including sovereign wealth funds in Singapore and Abu Dhabi, asset managers and private banks, according to media reports.
The company has confirmed that it had reached agreements with 'certain cornerstone investors' who have already accepted to subscribe for 31% of the shares on offer, worth $3.1 billion.
The group has said it would use funds raised by the listing to pay down debt, boost its stake in Kazzinc, a zinc producer with core operations in eastern Kazakhstan, and finance other projects to expand its business.
The sale comes as commodity prices soar amid huge demand from Asia, particularly China and India, for resources to power their economies.
Founded in April 1974 by trader Marc Rich, Glencore operated initially out of an apartment in central Switzerland's Zug canton before quickly emerging as a major player in commodities trading.
From metals, minerals and crude oil, the group moved into agricultural goods and started to expand from simply trading third party commodities to acquiring ownership of resources in the late 1980s by purchasing its own mines.
