Glencore Investors Force Bullish Glasenberg to Expect Less
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Change of strategy came after meetings with shareholders
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Dividend shelved; $2.5 billion sale of shares announced
After a breakfast meeting with a small group of hedge funds in New York last week, Glencore Plc Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg concluded that investors could no longer stomach his famously bullish outlook.
The meeting capped two weeks of discussions with shareholders from North America to Europe after the Swiss miner and trader reported a 56 percent decline in profit. His plan to trim Glencore’s $30 billion debt by 10 percent by the end of next year wasn’t enough to halt a plunge in the company’s market value, which has more than halved to about 17 billion pounds ($26 billion) this year. On Monday the company announced a much more aggressive strategy to appease investors…