Xstrata has also softened its opposition to the change of management structure recommended in the original offer provided that the new offer is at the right price, the source said. As many as 20 senior Xstrata executives may leave after the transaction is completed, the person said.

Glencore, which owns 34% of Xstrata, had raised the amount of stock offered for the rest of the company by 9%, but demanded that its chief executive Ivan Glasenberg replace Davis minutes before shareholders were due to vote.

Xstrata spoke against the revised bid on September 7, saying in a statement the 17.6% premium to create the world’s largest mining company by combining with the commodity trader was priced “significantly lower than would be expected in a takeover”

A takeover by Glencore would entitle Davis, 54, to 5.3 million pounds in salary and bonuses and $4.3 million in retirement benefits, according to the mining company’s annual report, unless a new payout is agreed to in the revised proposal.

This compares with a retention bonus of 28.8 million pounds in shares over three years that he had originally been offered to lead the combined company and achieve cost-saving targets, Bloomberg said.

“The intention to replace Mick Davis as CEO and to amend the management incentive arrangements represents significant risk around the retention of the Xstrata senior and operational management,” Xstrata said in its September 7 statement. The company said it will decide whether to reconvene shareholder meetings once it gets a detailed proposal.

Glencore’s move has threatened the power-sharing agreement reached by both companies in February, when the then-21.9 billion-pound deal was announced, according to Bloomberg.

“Davis was to have led the new company, and Glasenberg would have been deputy CEO,” according to the Bloomberg report. “Xstrata investors, told of the latest proposal as they were arriving at the September 7 meeting in Switzerland to vote on the deal, must now wait for more details from the suitor.”