‘Mini-Ivan’ running a R1 trillion mining giant

Commodities giant Glencore was built in the image of Ivan Glasenberg – the man who pulled it out of the shadows and into the light of modern finance and became an overnight billionaire in the process. 

No man better embodies Glasenberg’s penchant for hard work, relentless drive, and financial savvy than ‘mini-Ivan’ Gary Nagle. 

Nagle took over from Glasenberg as Glencore CEO in 2021 and was thrust into the hot seat, charged with navigating the company through the energy transition. 

The company appears well-placed to benefit from the transition through its huge trading arm and direct exposure to copper, cobalt, zinc, and nickel. 

However, Glasenberg was not called the ‘King of Coal’ for no reason. He had worked his way up through Glencore’s coal trading business and eventually ensured the company had control over its own coal mines. 

This left Nagle, also a former coal trader, with a tricky legacy: having to balance the immense profits Glencore generated from its coal business and pressure from investors to meet environmental targets. 

Nagle also faced the heat in other areas, with Glencore facing several corruption probes, intense environmental scrutiny, and a share price that had halved in the past decade. 

Glencore’s IPO in London in May 2011 made many people extremely rich, minting five new billionaires overnight. Glansenberg was the largest beneficiary, hitting a net worth of just over £6 billion (R60 billion). 

However, in the decade following, Glencore’s dirty secrets became public knowledge, causing many investors to be hesitant to invest in the company. 

Glasenberg spent much of his first few years as CEO putting out fires from Glencore and its founder Marc Rich’s past.

The CIA accused the company of illegal dealings with ‘rogue states’ such as Apartheid South Africa, the Soviet Union, Iran, and Iraq. 

The company was said to have a history of busting trade embargoes to profit from corrupt or despotic regimes. The CIA found Glencore had paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to world leaders to obtain oil and other commodities from sanctioned states. 

Glencore denied these charges, but the cloud never cleared fully. Corruption probes continued for years.

During this tumultuous period, a young South African accountant in the mould of Glasenberg began rising through Glencore’s coal department and soon became the head of this division. 

Nagle’s relentless drive and penchant for hard work had singled him out in the eyes of Glasenberg, authors of The World for Sale Jack Farchy and Javier Blas say. 

Glasenberg consciously built Glencore in his image. A Wits-trained accountant from Johannesburg, he had high standards for his employees.

Often working 16-hour days and travelling the world, Glasenberg’s job was not one many people desired. 

Glasenberg stacked Glencore with South African accountants that effectively dominated its trading business, which was extremely profitable. 

Farchy and Blas recall that South Africa’s “clipped accent” dominates the small Swiss town of Baar, where Glencore is headquartered. They also say many are the mirror image of the man. 

The South African’s “insatiable appetite for work” transformed Glencore into the world’s largest metals trader, a top-three oil trader, and the world’s largest wheat trader.

From Baar, Glencore has interests stretching from Canadian wheat to Peruvian copper and Russian oil. 

In 2021, ‘mini-Ivan’ took the reins as Glasenberg realized it was time for someone else to be Glencore’s CEO. 

“It’s time to hand over to a new generation and a new leader,” Glasenberg said in 2020.  “We’ve decided that over the next six months, I will be working closely with Gary Nagle, who will be taking over from me.”

Nagle beat out stiff competition from Kenny Ives, former head of Glencore’s nickel division, and Nico Paraskevas, former head of Glencore’s copper operations. 

Starting at Glencore in 2000, Nagle would almost perfectly follow Glasenberg’s path to the top. He had already completed his accounting degrees at the former CEO’s alma mater, the University of the Witwatersrand. 

From the bottom of Glencore’s coal division, Nagle rose through the ranks rapidly and exhibited many of the traits seen in Glasenberg. 

He was sent worldwide to run various parts of the company’s coal division. Starting as an asset manager, Nagle would become CEO of Prodeco, Glencore’s Colombian coal business, in 2007. 

Following Glencore’s acquisition of Xstrata, Nagle returned home to South Africa to run the company’s alloy assets and eventually became head of coal. 

Nagle also gained vital experience in Australia and was “on the board’s radar for more than several years”, chairman Tony Hayward said in 2020. 

“His work ethic and dedication to the company and its employees has inspired a loyalty that is rare in business.” 

Glasenberg had groomed Nagle for over twenty years, working directly with him through his time at the company. 

Nagle had a big task on his hands, with the world just beginning to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and a renewed emphasis on the green transition. 

He would also come out in support of his home country as it faced stiff criticism when one of its largest competitors, BHP, would try to buy Anglo American. 

Nagle was under particular pressure to cut carbon emissions, putting the business he and Glasenberg had worked to build under threat. 

Upon taking over as CEO, Nagle also had to deal with the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, launching an investigation into bribery at the company. 

However, despite these pressures, Nagle came in at a rather fortuitous time as the company’s trading arm raked in billions as the Covid-19 pandemic and the repeated ‘opening’ and ‘closing’ of economies resulted in severe supply chain problems. 

This resulted in elevated volatility across key parts of Glencore’s business, such as crude oil, LNG, coal, and more refined products. 

One story stands out in particular. When oil prices dipped below zero in April 2020, many stared at their screens in shock at the unprecedented event. 

Glencore did not hesitate to hire oil tankers and contact oil exporters to take on their excess produce. These tankers, typically used to transport oil around the world, were now used as mobile storage units. 

As oil recovered to above $0 per barrel, Glencore began selling the produce it had bought up effectively for free at a near 100% profit. 

Nagle also doubled down on coal, buying South America’s largest open-pit coal mine in 2022, strengthening its hold on the vital commodity. 

He has proven unafraid to make contrarian bets by not buying into the hype and pressure to rush the company’s green transition at the expense of shareholder returns. 

This path was ultimately supported by shareholders, with 95% of Glencore’s investors voting to keep its highly profitable coal business due to its ability to generate cash for shareholders. 

“They recognise that cash is king,” Nagle said after the vote. The company scrapped plans to spin off the coal unit. 

Many of Glencore’s coal mines are in South Africa, to which Nagle still has an affinity and has lept to the country’s defence in recent years. 

Following BHP’s attempted takeover of Anglo American, Nagle made a clear statement of support for his home country. 

Nagle praised the tax regime and said infrastructure and power problems in the country were manageable.

“If you look around the world, we have seen changes in royalties across the board — except for South Africa. They have not touched royalties and taxes,” he told the Financial Times. 

“Yes, it has issues on infrastructure and power, but the industry can work together to deal with that.”

Nagle added that there had been “recent strong improvements” at state-owned rail operator Transnet. “We think Transnet will go to a public-private partnership and will continue to improve.”

Glencore has put its money where its mouth is under Nagle, pumping money into South Africa through Astron Energy, its local smelters, and mines.  

This, along with other investments in metals vital for the green transition, should see Glencore go from strength to strength in the coming years.