FT.com / Commodities - Glencore unveils $11bn IPO plans

Glencore has announced its intention to become a public company, saying in a regulatory filing it planned to sell up to 20 per cent stake in London and Hong Kong in mid May worth up to $11bn to pursue acquisitions.

The move is the most radical transformation of
the world’s largest commodities trader, breaking with nearly four
decades of private ownership. The flotation will trigger a paper
windfall to the 485 employees with own shares. The flotation will move
Glencore, run from a nondescript Swiss building, further from its
origins in 1974 under Marc Rich,
the oil trader who was indicted for tax evasion in the US and pardoned
by President Bill Clinton on his last day in the White House.