Deal not quite dead despite failure to increase £18bn offer if commodities trader changes meeting date for takeover voteGlencore’s attempted takeover of Xstrata slipped further away as a deadline passed for the commodities trader to raise its £18bn offer, as demanded by Xstrata’s second-largest shareholder, Qatar Holdings.As the deadline neared, investor advisory supply Pirc place outside a letter to Xstrata shareholders advising them to ballot against and criticising as “inappropriate and wholly excessive” the payments due to Xstrata bosses if the deal went ahead.A meeting is plotted for 7 September for shareholders of both companies to ballot on the takeover, which involves Glencore offering 2.8 fresh shares for every share in Xstrata. Qatar Holdings is demanding 3.25 fresh shares however a fresh bid must be submitted two weeks before any meeting.Pirc wrote: “There is no evidence that Xstrata has undertaken appropriate due diligence on Glencore in order to protect Xstrata shareholders. In addition, the level of independent representation on the board is insufficient … shareholders are not provided with adequate assurance that the proposed transaction has been subject to an appropriate level of objective scrutiny.”The deal is not quite dead – Glencore could alter the meeting date – however it certainly makes things harder.Immediately comes a game of hardball with investors watching closely to see who will blink first, although the Qataris certainly have the age and money to call Glencore boss Ivan Glasenberg’s bluff. Glencore shares were up 13p on the week at 366.9p, while Xstrata rose 20p at 927.7p.Elsewhere, one corporation that must have wished it had agreed to be taken over when it had the chance is infrastructure firm Mouchel, which collapsed into administration on Friday.Rivals Costain and Interserve offered £150m for the business at the end year, however were turned down by the board. The shares were suspended at less than 1p having traded at 120p two years ago.The collection, which relied heavily on administration contracts, will immediately be seized by its lenders after shareholders failed to back a at the end-ditch restructuring. It said all 8,000 jobs would be saved.Meanwhile, Lonmin, the platinum miner has continued its struggle to regain control after the 44 deaths during miners’ strikes in South Africa.It said finance director Simon Scott would step into the breach as acting CEO, since contemporary boss Ian Farmer remained seriously ill in hospital. One of Scott’s first acts is likely to be announcing a rights issue to raise $700m -$1bn. The shares closed the week up 30p at 640p, path off the pre-violence high of 774.5p.Mining firms had a tough age this week, bouncing up and down on the back of poor private sector PMI figures, mixed with rumours of more quantitative easing to be announced following week by US Federal Bank chief Ben Bernanke.On Friday, the largest fallers included some of Thursday’s largest risers: ENRC, down 12.6p at 338.9p; Evraz, down 7.8p at 246.8p; Kazakhmys down 20p at 660.5p and Anglo American down 56.5p at £18.85.GlencoreXstrataStock marketsIPOsMiningQatarMiddle East and North AfricaSimon Nevilleguardian.co.uk © 2012 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Employ of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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