Glencore share price dips as miner confirms asset sales in Chile and Australia to shrink debt pile and weather commodities rout
Embattled mining and trading giant Glencore is selling off assets in Australia and Chile, in a move to diminish its mountain of debt.
The company confirmed it will sell its wholly-owned Cobar copper mine in Australia and Lomas Bayas copper mine in Chile, after it flagged early this morning it will announce proposed sales of assets in the regions.
The company said in a statement:
The sale process is in response to Glencore receiving a number of unsolicited expressions of interest for these mines from various potential buyers.
Glencore has been hit hard by the deepening slump in commodities prices, and its turbulent stocks are down 57 per cent over the year, making it the FTSE index’s worst performer.
Investors have also signalled growing concerns over the size of its debt pile. To weather the continuing commodities rout, the miner is now in a race against time to slash its $30bn net debt by about a third. Asset sales are a part of its plan.
Today's announcement has so far failed to wow investors: Glencore shares were down 1.36 per cent in mid-morning trading.
In Chile, the company also owns a 44 per cent stake in the Collahuasi mine, the Punitaqui mine, Altonorte copper smelter as well as two-thirds in the hydro project Energia Austral. In Australia it owns several copper, nickel, zinc, coal and port assets.
Glencore shares rallied on Friday as the company announced plans to slash zinc production by a third in a bid to counteract the metal's plunging price.