Weil Gotshal & Manges and A&O Shearman have scored lead roles in Glencore’s talks with Rio Tinto over a potential $260bn combination that would be the largest M&A deal to date.
A&O Shearman is guiding Rio Tinto and Weil is acting for Glencore in the talks, with the latter’s team fielded by London M&A head David Avery-Gee and corporate partner Sarah Flaherty, according to sources with knowledge of the deal.
The potential deal and its value was first reported by the Financial Times and, should it come to fruition, would create the world’s largest mining company. It would also overtake the largest M&A deal yet – Vodafone’s $183bn acquisition of German industrial and telecoms conglomerate Mannesmann in 2000.
The two companies last week confirmed they were in “preliminary discussions about a possible combination of some or all of their businesses, which could include an all-share merger between Rio Tinto and Glencore”.
They added they expected a merger would see Rio Tinto – the larger of the two with an enterprise value of $162bn – acquire Glencore, though there was “no certainty” an offer would be made.
The talks come as global miners move to bulk up in metals including copper critical to the energy transition and for power-hungry data centres. Glencore is currently the sixth-largest copper producer in the world, though CEO Gary Nagle claimed last December the FTSE-listed company had the “right portfolio” to become the “world’s biggest copper producer by 2035”.
Glencore has historically turned to top UK law firms for large deals, calling in Linklaters for its $90bn acquisition of rival Xstrata in 2013. Linklaters also acted as lead counsel for Glencore on its 2011 IPO.
The company’s choice of Weil for the talks with Rio Tinto is a coup for the firm and underscores the strength of US firms in London deals work. Avery-Gee, who joined Weil from Linklaters in 2020, has advised Glencore on a number of matters including the sale of an Australian copper mine in 2023 for $1.1bn and the acquisition of Canadian battery recycler Li-Cycle last August.
US firms made up half of the top 10 in LSEG’s UK M&A legal adviser rankings for 2025, with Latham & Watkins and Kirkland & Ellis taking the top two spots.
Linklaters, which placed third in the rankings, is also a long-time adviser to Rio Tinto, including guiding the company on its $6.7bn acquisition of Arcadium Lithium last year. It also advised it on a joint venture agreement with First Quantum Minerals for the development of a copper project in Peru in 2023.
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