Commodities group Glencore be 'eyes mega London listing'

Global commodities giant Glencore is preparing to float on the London Stock Exchange in an effort to raise about 10 billion dollars (7.5 billion euros) for the Swiss-based group, a report said on Sunday.

The trading and mining group, which has benefited from recent record high gold prices, has lined up investment banks Credit Suisse, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley for a stock market debut as early as April, The Sunday Times said.

The weekly added that Glencore plans to sell only about one-fifth of its shares, while a listing would place the company among the 20 top biggest firms on London's FTSE 100 index, with a total value of about 50 billion dollars.

Glencore plans a secondary listing in Hong Kong, the paper said, without citing its sources, while London would see one of its biggest-ever flotations.

According to research firm Dealogic, London's largest initial public offering (IPO) to date was in 2006 when Russian oil group Rosneft raised 10.5 billion dollars.

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