Glencore/BlackRock relationship

A snippet below from yesterday’s AFR coverage of Glencore’s interest in a merger with Rio highlights the relationship between two of AVB’s major shareholders. Both Glencore and BlackRock are in this game to make money and neither will bother getting on the register of a small minnow company unless they feel they can turn a handsome profit not too far down the track.
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“There are certain features of the Xstrata deal that are likely to be used again in the Rio stoush.
First, Glasenberg will likely approach the shareholders of Rio who are also shareholders of Glencore. One of those is BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager.
Although BlackRock is a passive index manager, its head of resources investments Evy Hambro holds similar views to Glasenberg in relation to the failure of Rio and BHP to give priority to share holder interests.
Hambro was actually one of the significant barriers to the successful completion of the Xstrata deal. He was opposed to certain overly generous retention payments.
These were reworked in order to get the deal over the line. It is said that Hambro and Glasenberg ended up being good friends by the time the transaction was completed.
The Glencore deal with Xstrata was presented as a merger of equals but in the end the offer was raised to meet the demands of shareholders.”
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Worth remembering that when Glencore took over Xstrata, Glasenberg offloaded all non performing assets and pretty much held onto only a handful of Greenfield exploration opportunities.
Can I suggest to long term investors in AVB that if you can afford to do so, the best $500-$1,000 you will spend this year is to buy a return plane ticket to Perth for the AVB AGM on November 7. The AVB directors are most forthcoming with answers to any question from shareholders and I can say from experience, there is nothing like having a one on one or group face to face Q&A discussion with Tony Polglase and his fellow Directors. Any technical, mining, engineering, finance or AVB related question will be answered honestly and in great detail. It was on the basis of attending last year’s AGM that I felt confident enough to increase my holding significantly. The added bonus is that the AVB shareholder’s post AGM drinks session is a rip snorter!