Shares of the Swiss commodity trader Glencore rose on Thursday in their first day of trading in London after a $10 billion initial public offering, the biggest this year.

Glencore sold 1.14 billion shares at £5.30 ($8.60) apiece, the company said in a statement. Investors include BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase and the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi. Glencore’s chief executive, Ivan Glasenberg, remains the company’s single largest shareholder with a 15.7 percent stake.

The share price was set at the middle of the price range announced earlier this month, valuing the company at $59.2 billion. The shares hit a high of £5.53 before retreating to £5.41 in early afternoon trading in London, still 2.2 percent above the opening price.

Glencore’s shares were also sold on the stock exchange in Hong Kong. Demand for the shares “significantly” exceeded the amount available, Mr. Glasenberg said.

“We welcome and look forward to building long-term mutually beneficial relationships with our new shareholders, as we have with our customers, suppliers and capital partners over the years,” Mr. Glasenberg said.

In going public, Glencore is giving up some of the secrecy that analysts say has helped it become one of the biggest traders of physical commodities, with operations in more than 40 countries. The share sale provides Glencore with cash as well as publicly traded shares it can use to pay for acquisitions.

Glencore was founded in 1974 by Marc Rich, an oil trader who later fled the United States for Switzerland because of tax evasion charges. Mr. Rich sold the company to a group of managers, including Mr. Glasenberg, in 1993 for about $600 million.

The shares started trading in London on Thursday on a conditional basis before being officially added to the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday, and in Hong Kong a day later.

Article source: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/after-10-billion-i-p-o-glencore-shares-rise/?partner=rss&emc=rss