Xstrata (XTA) Plc Chief Executive Officer Mick Davis and Chief...

Xstrata (XTA) Plc Chief Executive Officer Mick Davis and Chief Financial Officer Trevor Reid are weighing plans to set up a privately backed mining fund after Glencore International Plc (GLEN) takes over their company, people familiar with the matter said.
The fund would probably buy the undeveloped resources that major mining companies are looking to sell, the people said, asking not to be identified before a public announcement. While the plans aren’t final, Davis and Reid would likely search for investors in emerging markets and the Middle East, they said.
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Xstrata Plc Chief Executive Officer Mick Davis, scheduled to leave the company six months after the completion of the $35 billion takeover by Glencore, built the producer from a disparate collection of mostly South African coal-mining assets into one of the largest mining companies. Photographer: Gianluca Colla/Bloomberg
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Xstrata Plc Chief Financial Officer Trevor Reid on Dec. 4 decided against remaining as CFO at the merged company after the shareholders rejected paying a total of 144 million pounds of bonuses to managers to spur them to stay. Photographer: Gianluca Colla/Bloomberg
The executives would join peers raking through the world’s unexploited mining assets. Bankers led by Lloyd Pengilly, formerly at JPMorgan Chase & Co., are also setting up a London- based fund with investors from countries including Poland and Qatar. That firm plans to invest mainly in African mining. An Xstrata official declined to comment on Davis and Reid’s plans.
The world’s largest mine operators are selling assets after a $1.1 trillion takeover binge in the past decade left producers including Anglo American Plc (AAL) and Rio Tinto Group writing down valuations. Rio, the second-largest mining company, is seeking a buyer for its Canadian iron-ore operations, a person close to the matter said last week. It has already raised about $12 billion from divesting more than 20 projects.
Davis, 55, scheduled to leave Xstrata six months after the completion of the $35 billion takeover by Glencore, built the producer from a disparate collection of mostly South African coal-mining assets into one of the largest mining companies.