LONDON, March 6, 2026, 09:38 GMT
Glencore plc is proposing to back Kazakh entrepreneur Shakhmurat Mutalip’s $1.4 billion bid for a 40% stake in Eurasian Resources Group, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. Reuters said the package includes an $800 million upfront payment tied to future ferrochrome shipments, a steelmaking ingredient, and that Glencore and ERG did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 1
The timing matters. After Rio Tinto walked away from merger talks last month, Reuters reported Glencore was expected to focus on disposals to sharpen its copper business, with Aberdeen’s Iain Pyle saying it may “sell off assets individually” and Ninety One’s George Cheveley saying it could “tidy up” the portfolio and “release value.” 2
FT said Mutalip had overtaken a rival bid from ERG chief executive Shukhrat Ibragimov and was also in active talks to buy Glencore’s 70% stake in Kazzinc, a Kazakh zinc, lead and gold producer, in a deal it said could be worth about $3.5 billion. The paper said an ERG transaction would still need unanimous shareholder backing and government approval in Kazakhstan. 3
Last month, chief executive Gary Nagle said Glencore was pursuing “continued portfolio optimisation” and “clear momentum for our copper-led growth strategy”. In the same results package, the company targeted roughly 1.6 million tonnes of copper production by 2035 and disclosed a preliminary agreement to sell 40% of its DRC copper and cobalt assets to the U.S.-backed Orion Critical Mineral Consortium. 4
Glencore’s latest numbers showed why copper is carrying more weight inside the group. The miner returned $2 billion to shareholders in February even as adjusted EBITDA, a common measure of core operating profit, fell 6% to $13.51 billion in 2025; Nagle said second-half core profit rose 49% from the first half on higher metals prices and better production, especially copper. 5
The wider mining backdrop is still about consolidation, even if the big moves keep stalling. Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina said renewed talks with Rio were “not our base case” after the Feb. 5 collapse, while Reuters noted BHP’s approach to Anglo American had also fallen away and Anglo’s planned share-swap merger with Teck Resources was the main large deal still proceeding. 6
Delayed quotes on Glencore’s website showed the shares at 517.6 pence at 09:09 GMT, up 2.3 pence on the day in London. 7
But the Kazakhstan pieces are not done. The ERG financing plan has not been confirmed by the parties, and the approval hurdles described by FT mean the structure, timing or even the viability of any transaction could still shift. 1
