Glencore to issue 1.3b new shares to pay debt

Mining and commodities trading firm Glencore on Wednesday announced it will issue up to 1.3 billion new ordinary shares to raise up to US$2.5 billion as part of efforts to pay down debt.

The new issue will represent 9.99 per cent of the debt-ridden firm’s existing issued share capital, which will be immediately followed by an accelerated book building process to sell 78 per cent of the new shares.

The remaining 22 per cent will be sold to the senior management, including chief executive Ivan Glasenberg, chief financial officer Steve Kalmin and several board members, at a price yet to be announced.

Switzerland-based Glencore suspended trading of its shares in Hong Kong and London on Wednesday. The company’s share price has slumped by nearly 60 per cent this year to record lows, faring much worse than rival miners like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. Prices of Glencore’s key products, copper and coal, have sunk to more than six-year lows.

Its net debt amounted to US$29.6 billion as of the end of June, which it aims to cut by a third to US$20 billion by the end of next year through the new share issues, asset sales and dividend suspension.