Stock Market News
Glencore faces new Congo legal challenge
Congolese-American businessman and convicted fraudster Charles Brown has resurrected a lawsuit against mining giant Glencore, claiming he was owed $1bn in compensation for a 19% stake he previously held in Mutanda Mining, the world's biggest cobalt miner.
Brown's suit, the third court challenge against FTSE 100-listed Glencore for control of its Congolese mines this year, marks another pain for the firm as it also battles the African nation's government over a new mining code.
The Mutanda founder claims his shares had been fraudulently sold to Glencore in two transactions, in 2007 and 2012, and has demanded Glencore pay him in excess of $1bn for compensation and damages, although Brown told Bloomberg that his end goal was to take back control of his shares.
Glencore, which owns 100% of Mutanda, produced 24,000 metric tons of cobalt at the site, more than any other mine in the world, and 192,000 tons of copper.
In January 2018, the DRC's Commercial Court authorised Brown to seize $843m of Mutanda assets, and later rejected a bid by the firm to reverse the decision.
Two months later, Glencore chief executive Ivan Glasenberg and head of copper trading Aristotelis Mistakidis were ordered by the court to appear at a public hearing on 2 July, claiming they had used "violence and threats" to get Brown to sign an agreement giving up his claim back in May 2012.
Glencore said Brown's claims were "vexatious and baseless".
"Mr Brown's allegations have been rejected on numerous occasions by various courts in the DRC," the company said.
"Glencore will vigorously defend itself in the current legal proceedings."
Analysts at Shore Capital, said, "Apparently, the difference this time around is that Brown's legal team now includes politically connected lawyers... these include a former Kabila adviser and a serving lawmaker from the ruling coalition."
Brown's suit, the third court challenge against FTSE 100-listed Glencore for control of its Congolese mines this year, marks another pain for the firm as it also battles the African nation's government over a new mining code.
The Mutanda founder claims his shares had been fraudulently sold to Glencore in two transactions, in 2007 and 2012, and has demanded Glencore pay him in excess of $1bn for compensation and damages, although Brown told Bloomberg that his end goal was to take back control of his shares.
Glencore, which owns 100% of Mutanda, produced 24,000 metric tons of cobalt at the site, more than any other mine in the world, and 192,000 tons of copper.
In January 2018, the DRC's Commercial Court authorised Brown to seize $843m of Mutanda assets, and later rejected a bid by the firm to reverse the decision.
Two months later, Glencore chief executive Ivan Glasenberg and head of copper trading Aristotelis Mistakidis were ordered by the court to appear at a public hearing on 2 July, claiming they had used "violence and threats" to get Brown to sign an agreement giving up his claim back in May 2012.
Glencore said Brown's claims were "vexatious and baseless".
"Mr Brown's allegations have been rejected on numerous occasions by various courts in the DRC," the company said.
"Glencore will vigorously defend itself in the current legal proceedings."
Analysts at Shore Capital, said, "Apparently, the difference this time around is that Brown's legal team now includes politically connected lawyers... these include a former Kabila adviser and a serving lawmaker from the ruling coalition."
Related share prices |
---|
Glencore (GLEN) share price |
Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk
Get a free widget for your website with our latest headlines.
You can now add our live prices and new headlines to your website.The news widget features quotes for Oil prices, spot Gold price and Indices plus a choice of news channel for healines.
Top Shares pages
- Share price quotes
- Share charts
- Share watch list
- Company Results Calendar
- Top Large UK Shares
- UK Market Sectors
- Stock market news
- Company news
- Share tips
- A-Z company search
More share features
POPULAR Share Prices
- Royal Mail share price
- Lloyds share price
- HSBC share price
- Barclays share price
- Prudential share price
- Santander share price
- NEXT share price
- Diageo share price
- BP share price
- Vodafone share price
- British Airways
- Centrica share price
- Tesco share price
- Taylor Wimpey Share Price
- National Grid
- GKP Share Price
- Marks and Spencer
- Rolls Royce
- Rio Tinto
- THG Share Price
- Aviva Share Price
- Boil Share price
- Easyjet Share Price
- Genedrive Share Price
- SSE Share Price
- IAG Share Price
- Boohoo share price
- HE1 share price
- AVCT share price
- BOOM share price