Glencore held early talks over sale of African copper mines, FT reports

Glencore (GLNCY) has held preliminary talks about selling its multibillion dollar copper and cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, The Financial Times’ Leslie Hook, Camilla Hodgson, Tom Wilson and Harry Dempsey report. According to people familiar with the matter, Glencore rejected an unsolicited bid for the mines last month from a potential buyer in the Middle East because the offer was too low, but the company would consider selling part of all of its Congolese assets “for the right price.” The company has not started a formal sale process and it is possible that no deal would be completed, some of the people say. Glencore said in a statement: “At the end of last year, Glencore received an unsolicited approach regarding its operations in the DR Congo. The approach was rejected. Glencore has not engaged any banks or advisers and is not running a sale process for its operations in the DR Congo.”