Qatar wealth fund said to be interested in Glencore's agricultural business

The sovereign wealth fund of Qatar has reportedly joined investors expressing an interest in buying a minority stake in Glencore’s agricultural business, which deals in commodities such as wheat, cotton, soybeans and sugar.

Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter as saying that talks are in the preliminary stage and a sale could take as long as six months.

Qatar Holding, which is the direct investment arm of the state’s sovereign wealth fund, is already the largest investor in the London-listed commodities trader with an 8.9% stake.

Bloomberg said the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board were among the other parties involved in talks.

The sale of the agriculture business is part of Glencore’s debt-reduction plan, announced by chief executive Ivan Glasenberg early last month. It includes selling $2.5bn of new stock, asset sales, spending cuts and suspending the dividend, with the aim of cutting debt to $20bn from $30bn.