Xstrata board warms to Glencore's £36bn offer as decision nears Sources close to the company have indicated that a decision on the £36bn offer, which values one Xstrata share at 3.05 Glencore shares, will be announced as early as Wednesday with the board, chaired by Sir John Bond, likely to grant its approval. Xstrata held a meeting on Friday with independent, non-executive directors to discuss shareholder sentiment, although no decision was taken on the deal. At the meeting, Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore's chief executive, offered reassurances to Xstrata senior managers, promising them they would be allowed to run the mining assets of the group if the deal went through. Banking sources say it is still possible Xstrata may request an extension ahead of its September 24 deadline, although most now point to a decision being taken this week. Glencore owns a 34pc stake in its rival, making it Xstrata's largest shareholder. The position of Xstrata's second-largest investor, Qatar Holding, which owns a 12pc stake in the miner, remains unclear. Activist investor Knight Vinke, which owns 0.5pc of Xstrata's shares, said last week that it "wishes to confirm that it does not support the latest proposal submitted by Glencore for Xstrata." We continue to believe firmly that - given the more than threefold increase in earnings which some analysts believe will be generated by the current development pipeline at Xstrata over the next two years - the value of Xstrata is substantially more than Glencore is proposing. In contrast, Standard Life, Xstrata's tenth largest shareholder, has said it would move to oust the board if it did not agree to Glencore's latest offer. Mr Davis is likely to receive a payoff of at least £8m and could cash in company shares worth up to £30m if Mr Glasenberg's bid is successful. The payout would be significantly lower than the controversial retention agreements agreed by the Xstrata board for Mr Davis and other company executives when the two groups were considering a merger of equals.