Glencore’s assets at a glance

Glencore expects to raise about $2bn from the sale of assets - including agriculture and precious metals.

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London - Mining and trading group Glencore has said it plans to sell assets as part of a wider move to cut heavy debts built up through years of rapid expansion.

The London-listed company is under pressure to cut its net debt of $30 billion, one of the largest in the industry, as prices for its key products, such as copper and coal, slump.

The company expects to raise about $2 billion from the sale of assets, including agriculture and precious metals.

Here are some of Glencore's assets...

Agriculture

* Glencore says it plans to sell minority stakes in its agriculture assets, including infrastructure, to strategic investors.

* The firm's agricultural products include grain, oilseeds, cotton and sugar.

* It has facilities for storage, handling and processing.

* Glencore bought Viterra, Canada's largest grain handler, in 2012 for C$6.1 billion, cementing its status as a commodity-trading powerhouse.

Metals and minerals

* Glencore also says it plans to sell a “stream” of rights to precious metals produced as by-products at its base metals mines.

* The company has interests in copper, zinc, lead, nickel, ferroalloys, alumina, aluminium and iron ore.

* Copper is the largest contributor to Glencore's earnings.

* Glencore's copper assets include operations in Africa - Katanga, Mutanda and Mopani; in Latin America - the Antapaccay mine in Peru, a 44 percent stake in the Collahuasi mine in Chile and a 37.5 percent interest in Antamina mine in Peru; and some assets in Australia.

* The Katanga and Mopani operations are under review and Glencore has suspended production at the mines for 18 months.

* Glencore is one of the biggest zinc producers and has both mines such as Mount Isa in Australia and refining operations such as Portovesme in Italy.

Energy

* The business focuses on coal and oil.

* Glencore has coal assets in Australia, South Africa and Colombia.

* Glencore's Optimum Coal mine in South Africa is under “business rescue”, which allows a financially distressed company to temporarily delay creditors' claims against it or its assets.

* Glencore's oil assets are located in Chad.

* The company said in August it would take a $790 million charge on oil assets in Chad after a fall in oil prices.

Inventories

* Glencore had $23.6 billion worth of production and marketing inventories at the end of June, with the bulk from the marketing business.

* Glencore says it cut “readily marketable inventories” by $1.5 billion during the first six months of the year and says it plans further cuts to working capital over the next year.

REUTERS