Tag

In October 2013, company Rio Tinto consented to sell a 50% stake in Clermont coal mine for $1.02 billion to a joint endeavor in the middle of Glencore and Japan’s Sumitomo Corp.

Glencore has been at the eye of the storm over its exposure to a slowing Chinese economy and its $29.5 billion (£19.5 billion) debt pile, which the Swiss-based company has been forced by shareholders to slice with a series of self-help measures to raise $10 billion.

Buying Rio’s 40 percent share of the Bengalla coal venture and the planned expansion of its New Acland mine means “we would be using a considerable amount of our firepower”, Managing Director Shane Stephan said in a phone interview Wednesday.

But while analysts and investors were trying to figure out how trading could save a company in crisis, several traders were leaving the firm after what industry sources said were trades that failed to reward the big risks taken and the large amounts of capital employed.

Miner Rio Tinto PLC said that it has reached a binding agreement for the sale of its 40% interest in the Bengalla coal Joint Venture in Australia to New Hope Corporation Ltd for USD606 million.

Rio Tinto has agreed to sell its 40% interest in the Bengalla open cut thermal coal mine in eastern Australia to Queensland-based coal producer New Hope Corporation for A$865 million ($606 million), the companies said in separate statements Wednesday.

A few investors, including Investment Association, have criticised the way in which Glencore recently raised $2.5 billion, saying that the miner had breached shareholder protection principles.