Glencore Shares Jump on Talks With Rio Tinto to Create World's Largest Miner

By Adam Whittaker

Shares in commodity giant Glencore climbed on talks with Rio Tinto for an all-share merger that would create the world's largest mining company.

In morning trade in London, Glencore shares rose 8.5% to 448 pence--their highest level in over a year. Despite the rise, shares still trade significantly below their peak in January 2023, and give the Switzerland-based commodity trading and mining group a market capitalization of roughly $70.43 billion.

As merger-and-acquisition activity across the mining sector heats up, Glencore has been viewed by some analysts as a potential takeover target.

Glencore's shares have been weighed down recently in part by its coal division and a weaker copper business relative to companies that focus entirely on mining the red metal.

The expectation is that Rio Tinto would buy Glencore, according to the companies. The deal would include a possible combination of some, or all of their businesses. The combined entity would have a market value of more than $200 billion. The companies said the talks were at a preliminary stage.

Beyond this, little is known on the structure of any deal.

"We would not expect Glencore to get taken out in a nil-premium merger," Jefferies analysts said in a note, referring to the structure of Anglo American's recent deal to buy Canada's Teck in which the bidder didn't offer a premium to combine with the target.

Assuming Glencore sells its coal business, the merged entity would likely trade at premium to the weighted average of the two companies, Jefferies analysts added.

Copper would be at the heart of the combined business. Rio Tinto wants Glencore's copper growth potential, and exposure to the metal could lift the combined entity's shares, according to analysts.

The industrial metal is a core component in wiring and will be central to global electrification efforts. A series of supply shocks at major mines have helped push copper to record highs this week.

New mines are expensive to build and mean merger and acquisitions are the quickest and easiest way of securing new supply. The clamor for copper has sparked deal talks between the major miners, and is the driving force behind the Anglo American-Teck Resources deal.

Still, a tie-up between Rio Tinto and Glencore isn't guaranteed to happen. The talks revisit a combination that was first discussed around a year ago but broke down. Regulatory hurdles and the future of Glencore's coal and trading units within a combined group could pose hurdles to reaching a deal.

There is also the possibility an interloper could emerge. "BHP could look to acquire Glencore with a rival bid," Berenberg's Richard Hatch and Jasper Mainwaring write.

BHP--currently the world's No. 1 miner by market value--didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. It previously bid for Anglo American but was rebuffed, and risks falling behind rivals who are snapping up copper assets.

Glencore has been marketing itself for a sale for some time and is seen a willing seller, RBC Capital Markets analyst Ben Davis wrote in a note to clients.

Write to Adam Whittaker at adam.whittaker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 09, 2026 05:30 ET (10:30 GMT)