Merger of Glencore and Rio Tinto unlikely due to lack of synergies

In a hypothetical tie-up between Rio Tinto and Glencore shareholders in the former would demand a premium of as much as 30%, requiring synergies of about $25bn, a former BHP Billiton executive told Bloomberg News.

That is because Rio Tinto has better assets than Glencore. However, mining companies "generally do not have synergies", meaning that a combination of the two companies would be "very unlikely".

"This merger would not even come close to creating that value,” Calderon remarked.