Rio Boss Sam Walsh Says No Interest in Bidding for Glencore – by Scott Patterson and Alex MacDonald (Wall Street Journal – October 13, 2015)

http://www.wsj.com/

Businesses are not well-aligned and operate in different geographic areas

LONDON— Rio Tinto PLC Chief Executive Sam Walsh said he isn’t interested in making a bid for Glencore PLC despite the sharp decline in the embattled Swiss miner’s stock in the past few months.

Mr. Walsh said in an interview Tuesday that he doesn’t think Rio’s and Glencore’s businesses are well aligned and that Glencore operates in different geographic areas than Rio.

“It is a different culture” at Glencore, Mr. Walsh said. A Glencore spokesman declined to comment.

Rio last year rebuffed a proposal by Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg to merge the two mining giants. Industry watchers thought Mr. Glasenberg would likely make another move for Rio this year, but the company’s sharp stock decline has sidelined any plans for big deals at Glencore for now.

With Glencore laid low in recent weeks by concerns over its debt, speculation has swirled about it becoming a takeover target. The firm’s market value has dropped to about $26 billion, down from $61 billion at the beginning of 2015.

Rio—the world’s second-largest mining company by market value—is among a handful of players big enough to make such a move. Mr. Walsh dismissed such talk, pointing to Glencore’s structure.

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