In an announcement yesterday the Switzerland-based coal exporter said the merger review remained ongoing in China and South Africa where Glencore required approvals from regulators.

Glencore is the world’s biggest publicly traded commodity supplier and made a formal offer to buy Xstrata for 26 billion pounds ($A40 billion) earlier this year but doubts were cast over the deal when major shareholders demanded a better offer.

Glencore, which holds a stake of 34% in Xstrata, offered 2.8 Glencore shares for every share in Xstrata, however the second biggest shareholder, the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, asked Glencore to raise the offer to 3.25 shares.

Glencore chief executive Ivan Glasenberg, who personally holds a stake of more than 15% in Glencore, reportedly threatened to abandon the deal and wait for better timing rather than give in to shareholder demands.

If it goes ahead, the merger will create a global mining and trading company with a market capitalisation of more than £40 billion.

This article first appeared in ILN's sister publication MiningNews.net.