'Glenstrata' pushes back merger, but talks with China in 'final stages'

Commodities producer and marketer Glencore has once again pushed back the deadline to merge with diversified mining group Xstrata.

The companies are awaiting the approval of their multibillion-pound merger from China and had expected this to be received by April 16th, after having pushed back the long-stop date for the tie-up several times already.

Glencore said on Tuesday that it now does not expect to receive a final decision from the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China (MOFCOM) before this date and has pushed the deadline back by a further two weeks to May 2nd.

The merger, dubbed 'Glenstrata', was originally expected to have been completed in the autumn of 2012.

However, the firm did say that it has had "constructive discussions" with MOFCOM and that these talks are now in their "final stages".