Adventurer Simon Murray in frame to chair Glencore
Simon Murray, South Pole adventurer and former Vodafone Group board member, has said he is in the running for the role of chairman at Glencore, the commodities trading giant planning a roughly $10bn dual listing in London and Hong Kong.
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Simon Murray has served on the boards of several major companies and has experience investing in the mining industry.
By Roland Gribben 10:34AM BST 11 Apr 2011
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His comments came as Glencore prepared to make its long-awaited public debut in a flotation that will create 485 instant millionaires, the odd billionaire and unleash a powerful force with acquisition ambitions.
Mr Murray, who lives and works in Hong Kong after 45 years in Asia, said he had served on the boards of several major companies and has experience investing in the mining industry.
Confirming a report that he was among the candidates for the non-executive chair role, he told Reuters: "This is very exciting, but you are talking to someone who has been chased by a leopard. You are talking to someone who has been shot at with a machine gun and missed.
"As Mr Churchill once said, the most exhilarating experience in life is to be shot at without result."
Outline details of a planned dual listing in London and Hong Kong are expected later this week in an "intention to float" document that will start to strip away the secrecy surrounding a Swiss-based business provisionally valued at $60bn (£37bn).
The Glencore IPO would be London's largest ever and has seized the market's interest in the last several months given the massive company's nearly four decades as a private company.
Current plans involve Glencore selling around 20pc of its equity to raise between $10bn and $12bn.
The aim is to strengthen its balance sheet, provide more headroom for deals and reduce debt as raw material prices soar in a market seen ripe for further restructuring.
One of the first targets could be Xstrata, the mining group spun out of Glencore where it retains a 34pc stake.
The business is currently in the hands of 485 partners who are each expected to end up with shares worth an average of just over $100m.
They have agreed to be patient and hold the stock for five years before starting to realise their paper wealth.
Ivan Glasenberg, chief executive with a 15pc stake in the business, should end up as a billionaire nine times over but his main pre-occupation at present is overseeing a successful launch and persuading Simon Murray, the gritty Hong Kong businessman, to take over as independent chairman.
Glencore is refusing to comment on the flotation plans and another sudden lurch in world stock markets could delay the share offer.
But, after months of agonising, Mr Glasenberg has been persuaded by advisers, looking at potential fee income of £250m, that the time is ripe for the Goldman Sachs of commodity trading to go public.
Last year Glencore produced earnings before interest and tax of $5.3bn ($3.3bn in 2009) from its three main business groups, metals and minerals, energy and farm products.
Turnover jumped to $145bn (£106.4bn), there was net debt of $14.8bn (£10.2bn) while total assets were just short of $80bn.
Glencore employs more than 2,700 in 50 offices around the world but the total head count is almost 55,000 in 40 countries. In addition to Xstrata it has a 44pc stake in Century Aluminium, 70.5pc in Minara Resources, 74.4pc in Katanga Mining, 8.8pc in United Company Rusal, 51.5pc in Chemoil Energy and 32.2pc in Recylex.
The business has had a chequered life.
Marc Rich, the aggressive commodities trader who ran foul of the US taxman and was eventually pardoned by President Clinton, started the business in 1974 and sold out for around $600m in 1995 when the letter heading changed to Glencore.
Mr Glasenberg, who joined Rich in 1984, has helped current chairman Willy Strothotte broaden the commodity base from zinc, copper, iron ore, oil and gas trading into physical assets and consolidate an integrated marketing and production empire.
He feels the time is ripe for Glencore to move up and join BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto in the asset game.
The private partnership structure has imposed limits on Glencore's capital structure and restricting its ability to grow but as an FTSE100 company raising finance to fund acquisitions will be considerably easier.
Mr Glasenberg has mulled over a number of deals and although he does not have an extensive shopping list analysts expect him to be an active player.
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