Rio Tinto and Glencore have walked away from a mining mega merger, having been unable to agree on price and executive control.
Rio Tinto and Glencore have walked away from a mining mega merger, having been unable to agree on price and executive control.
Such a merger would have seen Rio Tinto emerge as the controlling entity of a $300-billion multi-commodity miner, which would have been the largest miner in the world.
Rio Tinto on Friday said it had deemed all combinations of the business unable to deliver value to the miner.
The make-up of the boardroom and C-suite, and valuation of the Swiss headquartered Glencore, were major hurdles to any deal.
“Rio Tinto assessed the opportunity and came to this view through the disciplined lens set out at its capital markets day in December 2025 – prioritising long-term value and delivering leading shareholder returns,” Rio Tinto said in a statement.
Glencore London-listed shares fell 11 per cent on the news before recovering to be down 2.6 per cent for the day. Rio was up 1.6 per cent at open on the ASX on Friday morning.
While Rio kept its statement brief, Glencore elaborated on the shortcomings it saw in the bid in a statement.
“The key terms of the potential offer were Rio Tinto retaining both the chairman and chief executive officer roles and delivering a pro forma ownership of the combined company, which, in our view, significantly undervalued Glencore’s underlying relative value contribution,” Glencore said.
“The proposed acquisition… does not reflect our view on long term, through the cycle relative value, including not adequately valuing our copper business, and its leading growth pipeline, and apportioning material synergy value potential.
“We have a well-diversified business across a range of commodities, supported by one of the best marketing franchises in the industry.”
Glencore said its portfolio was well-placed to support current and future global energy demands.
Hype v reality
While speculation had long been rife among resources pundits Rio was ready to pounce on Glencore, reality suggests such a deal was always going to be a tall order.
One month prior to revealing its interest in Glencore on January 8, new Rio Tinto boss Simon Trott had delivered a speech outlining a new era of fiscal discipline.
Mr Trott at that time outlined a path to trimming $15b of fat from the Anglo-Australian miner which included reviewing its non-core assets in iron, titanium and borates.
He had also noted an interest in new acquisitions to diversify away from iron ore.
However, many of Glencore’s interests – zinc, nickel, oil, coal, recycling, and agribusiness – would appear to sit well outside of what Rio would likely see as core business.
Glencore’s copper assets were touted as the jewel in the crown for Rio.
The miner’s copper production hubs are in Australia’s north-east, Canada, Africa, and South America.
Those hubs would have more than doubled Rio’s copper exposure to nearly two million tonnes per year.
Glencore has substantial coal assets; a product Rio has distanced itself from on its journey to become a miner compliant with the sustainability demands of the modern world.
Of the more curious additions which could have been bolted on to Rio was Glencore’s stake in agribusiness giant Bunge, which would have turned the iron ore miner into a grain handler and exporter in Western Australia as well.
That interest likely would have been sold off, as Glencore was already reducing its exposure.
Glencore’s other interest in WA is the Murrin Murrin nickel mine, one of only two left operating in the state after the metal’s price rout in 2025.
