Glencore launches early refinancing of credit facility

Commodities colossus Glencore has begun to refinance a portion of its massive debt pile, agreeing new terms on a $8.45bn, one-year revolving credit facility, according to reports.

The early refinancing of the credit facility was reported by the Financial Times, citing banking sources close to the deal, and was confirmed by the company.

Bookrunners on the deal were said to be HSBC, Santander, ABN Amro, ING and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.

Earlier it was reported that the drawn-out sale of Glencore's Lomas Bayas copper mine in Chile was drawing interest from Barrick Gold's ousted CEO Aaron Regent.

Bloomberg said Regent, who now runs Magris Resources, is competing against a small number of Chilean-focused miners that have reportedly offered Glencore close to $1bn for the mine, a price the company would jump at.

Having been wallowing below 70p earlier in the day, close to October's all-time low, Glencore's shares bounced to 74.87p by 1500 GMT, a rise of 4.3% on the day.