ZUG, SWITZERLAND - Ivan Glasenberg of Zug is making headlines in Australia, as the country’s surprise new number two billionaire – surprise in part because few knew Glasenberg was Australian, but also because he’s never before appeared on the list of the richest 200 Australians.
CEO runs London Stock Market’s remarkable new member
The South-African born man who lives in Switzerland and heads commodities giant Glencore, based in Baar, Switzerland, soared to the runner-up spot on the country’s BRW list of the 200 wealthiest people. He became an overnight billionaire when the company was partially floated in the past few days, in London and Hong Kong.
“Mr Glasenberg, who joined Glencore in 1984, is believed to have gained his Australian citizenship while working in the company’s Sydney office for two years,” the Sydney Morning Herald, which is published by the same company as BRW, reports, without giving dates.
Reuters reported in early May, when Glencore published its IPO (initial public offering) brochure, that Glasenberg “will rank among the world’s 100 richest people, Forbes data suggests, ahead of Nicky Oppenheimer, the $7 billion diamond tycoon Forbes considers South Africa’s richest man.”
The wire service carries one of the lengthiest descriptions of him published by world business media, noting that the race-walking athlete barely missed competing in the 1984 Olympics, according to his own account, because of a technicality related to his Israeli nationality.
The London Stock Exchange said in a press release Tuesday 24 May that the company had raised $10 billion.
The government of Dubai announced a unilateral moratorium on the $59 billion debt mountain of its biggest corporate entity, Dubai World, a conglomerate that owns ports and real estate around the world, 26 November. The government says it has appointed DeLoitte LLP to advise it on restructuring Dubai World.
The news caused stock markets in Europe to decline sharply because of worries that Dubai’s massive investments in companies ranging from Porsche and Daimler to the London Stock Exchange may need to be liquidated. Banks were particularly hit. Rating agencies downgraded the debt of several Dubai government-run companies in response.
Dubai’s ruler, Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum, dropped several key aides involved in Dubai’s real estate boom 23 November, in order to assert closer control over a sprawling financial empire.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, Reuters, Wall Street Journal
