By reputation, Glencore has an appetite for risk-taking hardwired into its soul, from high-volume trading of the world’s commodities to a fondness for doing business in some of the most politically volatile countries on the planet. The received wisdom is that investors susceptible to palpitations should probably stay away, but, as ever, the realities are more nuanced.
Glencore was founded as a metals, minerals and oil-trading business in 1974 by Marc Rich, a commodities trader who was indicted by the United States for tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran but who was pardoned by President Clinton on the latter’s last day in office. Based in Baar, Switzerland, it has been led since 2002 by Ivan Glasenberg, 62, the South African billionaire who presided over