RARE GIANT MERGER DEAL IN COMMODITIES SECTOR - Mergers and acquisitions have been a bit thin on the ground of late, but then along comes a big one - and it concerns an area where values have been rocketing in the past few years.
Glencore, which floated on the stock market only last year, is the world's biggest commodities trader. It deals in everything from aluminium to zinc, with corn and oil seed in between.
Mining company Xstrata has mines on almost every continent extracting everything from coal to copper. A merged entity will have a combined value of $80 billion or around €60 billion.
Jeremy Batstone-Carr, chief economist and strategist at Charles Stanley in London, says there have been very few big merger deals since the financial crisis in 2008.
He says Glencore holds 34% of Xstrata already, and the deal has been long in the making. He does not believe that the merger will have any effect on commodities prices.
Asked about an NIESR report on the British economy, which has predicted a recession, Mr Batstone-Carr says the report is important for the Irish economy, as weaker demand in the UK will affect Irish exports.
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NEWS AND CURRENCIES - Japan's Panasonic today warned that it would see its worst-ever net loss of 780 billion yen ($10.23 billion) for the year to March.
On the currency markets, the euro is worth $1.3149 and 83.1p sterling.
