Reuters: Regulatory News: UPDATE 1-EU delays Glencore deal verdict after concessions

Reuters: Regulatory News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

UPDATE 1-EU delays Glencore deal verdict after concessions Oct 31st 2012, 10:06 Wed Oct 31, 2012 6:06am EDT BRUSSELS Oct 31 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators extended their review of Glencore's $33 billion bid for miner Xstrata to Nov. 22, after the trader offered concessions to ease concerns over the combined group's slice of the European zinc market. The European Commission, which had been due to reach a deal by Nov. 8, said on its website on Wednesday that Glencore submitted its proposals on Tuesday, but it did not provide details, in line with standing policy. Industry sources have said Glencore's desire to avoid an in-depth investigation in Brussels - which would drag the already drawn-out merger with Xstrata into next year - would prompt it to respond to the call for disposals in zinc metal, where market concentration is most significant, but where margins are also lower than in mining. Zinc ore is, most of the time, concentrated at the mine and then sent to the smelter. Zinc metal is the processed form of zinc concentrate. Glencore declined to comment on the concessions offered, but assets that could make the list include Glencore's Portovesme, a lead and zinc smelter in Sardinia, and Xstrata's Nordenham plant in Germany. The much larger San Juan de Nieva plant, owned by Xstrata, could also be offered up. One of the sources said San Juan would be "highly unlikely" to be top of Glencore's list given its size - the plant produces almost 500,000 tonnes of zinc a year, more than three times the amount produced by Nordenham. Others, though, said it could be offered up to speed the regulatory process. Selling San Juan alone would reduce Glencore Xstrata's grip on the European zinc metal market to 28 percent from 50 percent. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this week that the EU competition watchdog had asked for concessions in its zinc operations before deciding on the proposed deal. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions