Glencore helps scout for Access World buyer after owners failed to pay, sources say

By Pratima Desai

LONDON (Reuters) - Logistics company Access World has been put up for sale by its new owners Global Capital Merchants (GCM), less than two years after they bought it from Glencore but failed to pay the full agreed amount, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The three sources, who could not be named because they were not authorised to speak to the press, said GCM had paid Glencore only $40 million. Two of them said Glencore had approached other warehousing and logistics companies to gauge their interest in acquiring Access World.

Access World - once one of the largest global metal warehousing businesses - was acquired in 2010 by commodity trader and miner Glencore and sold in December 2022 as part of a wider retreat from assets they deemed to be non-core.

Access World did not respond to requests for comment via email and phone and Glencore declined to comment.

London-listed Glencore sold the warehousing company for an enterprise value of $180 million to GCM, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.

In its annual report for 2023, Glencore said $40 million had been received in December 2022, adding a further $115 million was expected in 2023. The accounts made no mention of the remaining amount.

Glencore's divestments also included the sale of a controlling stake in Peruvian miner Volcan Compañia Minera in May.

(This story has been refiled to add dropped words in paragraph 5)

(Reporting by Pratima Desai; editing by Barbara Lewis)