Romanian Investors Try To Buy Into Glencore IPO

05.18.2011 ZF English

Romanian investors are very interested in the public offering of the Swiss group Glencore, the world's largest commodities trader, in which they have already subscribed several million of euros, people familiar with the matter told ZF.

Glencore's listing is now the hottest topic on the capital markets of the world, with major investors from US to Asia keeping an eye on the ongoing IPO on the London and Hong Kong markets.

The Glencore rush has reached Romania, too, with a number of investors having called their brokers to find out how they could get some shares in the worldwide deal of the year.

Glencore's name has been shrouded in mystery until recently. Though seen as the world's biggest commodities trader, little had been known of its business and its main stockholders until a month ago.

The Glencore group is even less known in Romania, although it is one of the biggest traders on the grain market, along with three other giants, Cargill, Alfred C. Toepfer and Bunge. The group, however, has kept a low profile, being known only to the major players on the grain market where it operates.

Despite the scarcity of available information, brokers say local investors are keenly interested in this offer and the amounts they have subscribed so far are in the range of millions of euros. Most brokerage firms affiliated to international groups have received inquiries or orders to subscribe in the Glencore IPO from clients.

"Yes. We did get subscription orders for the Glencore IPO and I can say that there's really a lot of interest in it. Local investors are probably looking at the quality of the company and the price or at the fact that the IPO is oversubscribed," said the head of a major brokerage firm on the market.