BRUSSELS--European Union regulators are poised to give the green
light on Thursday to Glencore's merger with Xstrata after the
commodities giant fine-tuned its package of concessions to
regulators' competition concerns, a person familiar with the
discussions said.
"The deal is very, very close to being done," the person
said.
The European Commission is due to give the nod to the roughly
$70 billion merger after weeks of intense discussions in which
Glencore had to address regulators' concerns over competition in
the European zinc market. Shareholders in Glencore and Xstrata gave
their backing to the merger on Tuesday and both sides had been keen
to secure clearance under the EU's fast-track procedure.
To clear the merger, Glencore had recently offered to cancel its
exclusive contract with Belgian zinc smelter Nyrstar, but the EU's
antitrust chief, Joaquin Almunia, had sought more assurances over
how that relationship would be terminated in a way that allowed
rivals to compete.
"The last round of talks was about how the Nyrstar agreement
could be terminated in a way…that means Glencore doesn't have
influence over Nyrstar," the person explained. "Third parties had
been pushing for hard for that."
Once the European Commission, which acts as the EU's antitrust
watchdog, gives its backing, the focus will shift to China, where
regulators are still reviewing the deal.
Write to Vanessa Mock at vanessa.mock@dowjones.com
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