Glencore to settle probes in US, UK for $1.5 billion

Glencore Plc will pay $1.5 billion to settle US and UK investigations into alleged wrongdoing, according to people familiar with the matter, as the commodities giant seeks to draw a line under probes that have hung over its business for years.

Glencore’s general counsel appeared in a New York courtroom on Tuesday, where a federal judge said the company would plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery.

Settlements in the US and UK will go a long way toward removing a question mark that has overshadowed the company’s business for years, although it also still faces investigations elsewhere. Glencore said in February that it expected to resolve US, UK and Brazilian probes this year and set aside $1.5 billion.

Glencore shares jumped as much as 5.3% to the highest in more than a month on Tuesday. “It’s a good day for them to finally get this done because it’s been hanging over them for a while,” said Ben Davis, a mining analyst at Liberum Capital. “It at least allows them to start to move forward.”

When the inquiries became public in 2018, Glencore said the US had requested documents relating to its business in Nigeria, Congo and Venezuela starting in 2007. In February, new CEO Gary Nagle made the clearest admission yet that there had been past wrongdoing and “flaws in our culture.”

Glencore is the largest among a handful of companies that dominate global trading of oil, fuel, metals, minerals and food, although most of its rivals remain privately held.

Over the years, the industry had been willing to do business in some of the poorest countries with the most corrupt governments, often relying on middlemen to help secure deals.