Bullet briefing — Glencore restructures, Anglo completes spinoff

Glencore restructuring move sparks M&A talk

Commodities giant Glencore (LSE:GLEN,OTC Pink:GLCNF) has quietly moved billions worth of global coal and ferroalloys assets into an Australian subsidiary.

The Australian Financial Review was the first to report the news, and it's already sparked speculation about renewed M&A talks between Glencore and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO). The two major companies reportedly engaged in discussions last year, but did not move forward.

With this restructuring from Glencore and Rio Tinto's CEO due to step down later this year, market watchers see potential for a deal to be done.

Anglo American spins off Valterra Platinum

Anglo American (LSE:AAL,OTCQX:AAUKF) made headlines this week as the firm finished demerging its platinum-group metals unit, Valterra Platinum (JSE:VAL).

Valterra, formerly Anglo American Platinum, began trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Wednesday, and will have a secondary listing in London as of June 2.

Anglo made the decision to spin off Valterra after heading off a US$49 billion takeover bid from BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) last year. The company embarked on a restructuring plan that will see it hone in on copper and iron ore; like platinum, its coking coal and nickel assets are set to be divested.

Interestingly, Valterra's debut comes alongside a platinum price boost. The metal recently broke out to its highest level in about two years, nearly reaching US$1,100 per ounce.

Edward Sterck of the World Platinum Investment Council believes it's too soon to tell whether the rise is sustainable, but he does see a "perfect storm" brewing for platinum.

Here's how he explained it:

I think platinum's fundamentals are just highly attractive at the moment.

You've got really constrained supply, you've got demand that is actually beginning to show some real signs of growth, driven principally by an inflection in jewelry demand and by ongoing growth in investment demand.

And so given those things are resulting in these really significant deficits — this is the third year of almost a million ounces of deficit out of an 8 million ounce market — those are just rapidly depleting those aboveground stocks ... this has all generally come together as a perfect storm. We are seeing that tightness in the market, and I feel quietly optimistic that we're going to see that long-awaited price response come through.

Watch the full interview for a more in-depth look at supply and demand dynamics for platinum.