Share dealing values firm at £36bn

Commodities giant Glencore has been valued at more than £36bn (€40bn) after dealings in London’s biggest stock market listing got under way today.

Chief executive Ivan Glasenberg is set to see his personal stake worth almost £5.8bn (€6.6bn), while 485 traders now sit on paper fortunes of several tens of millions.

The shares were issued at 530p at the start of trading and made steady if unspectacular progress in subsequent conditional dealings.

The Switzerland-based commodities trader conservatively pitched its price at the bottom of indications yesterday, even though the float was said to be more than four times over-subscribed by institutional investors,

It sold just over 16% of its total shares in the issue, about 1.14 billion. Retail investors will not get a chance to participate until next Tuesday.

Glencore is the world’s biggest commodities trader, with products including oil, coal, gold and foodstuffs, but also owns a number of mines worldwide. It employs around 57,500 staff around the world, of whom around 200 are based in London.

Founded by US tycoon Marc Rich in 1974 and owned by its traders since a management buyout in 1994, the group holds a 34% stake in miner Xstrata, as well as having a 9% holding in Russian aluminium giant Rusal.