Glencore wins conditional EU clearance for Xstrata deal

BRUSSELS (REUTERS) - Glencore closed in on its aim of becoming a mining and trading powerhouse on Thursday, as Europe's antitrust regulator announced it had approved the US$33 billion (S$40.4 billion) takeover of Xstrata.

The deal, one of the biggest to date in the mining sector, was cleared with more modest concessions than had been expected.

The world's largest diversified commodities trader must scrap an exclusive zinc sales deal with Nyrstar and sell its 7.8 per cent stake in the world's No. 1 zinc producer, the European Commission said in a statement.

The move will cut the combined entity's share of the European zinc market to below 40 per cent, the threshold which typically triggers antitrust regulatory concerns.