Glencore hits market as value tops £36bn

Chief executive Ivan Glasenberg is set to see his personal stake worth almost 5.8 billion, while 485 traders now sit on paper fortunes of several tens of millions.

Initial grey market, or conditional, trade showed the shares changing hands at more than 3 per cent above the offer price of 530p, indicating strong demand. They closed unchanged.

The Switzerland-based commodities trader conservatively pitched its price at the bottom of indications on Wednesday, even though the float was said to be more than four times over-subscribed by institutional investors,

It sold just over 16 per cent of its total shares in the issue, about 1.14 billion. Retail investors will not get a chance to participate until Tuesday.

Glencore is the world's biggest commodities trader, with products including oil, coal, gold and foodstuffs, but also owns a number of mines worldwide. It employs around 57,500 staff worldwide, of whom about 200 are based in London.

Founded by US tycoon Marc Rich in 1974 and owned by its traders since a management buy-out in 1994, the group holds a 34 per cent stake in miner Xstrata, as well as having a 9 per cent holding in Russian aluminium giant Rusal.

Glencore is set to enter the FTSE 100 on Tuesday, making it only the third company to enter Britain's blue-chip index immediately on listing, and will add to the growing dominance of mining groups in the top flight. It is also floating in Hong Kong.

Glasenberg said the offer was significantly oversubscribed, providing the group with a "high-quality, diverse and geographically-spread investor base". The final price of 530p was set to encourage investors to take a long-term view, he added.

The group's top executives and major investors are tied in through lock-ups of at least six months, but share performance will matter to Glencore, particularly if the company is to use the offering as planned to pursue acquisitions, not least a potential offer for peer Xstrata.