Top Xstrata shareholder BlackRock backs merger with Glencore Under the terms of the deal, Glencore is offering 2.8 of its own shares for every Xstrata share, which Xstrata investors say is too low, given Glencore's shareholders will get the larger share of the combined group. Ms Raw was not in that camp. "If you were to ask me today whether or not the natural resources team would accept the offer, then yes, we would," she told Bloomberg. In terms of the natural resource team's view, we see the joint entity as being a better solution for both companies. However, many investors say their objections are not about the rationale behind a merger - but rather the structure of the deal. Neil Dwane, chief investment officer of RCM, the equities unit of Allianz Global Investors, said last month: "We feel the deal not only undervalues Xstrata [but] we are being offered unattractive [Glencore] paper." Questions have also been asked about the deep-rooted economic interests BlackRock has in Glencore. When Glencore floated last May, BlackRock was one of a small group of cornerstone investors that made the IPO possible, committing $360m at the time of flotation. But BlackRock's relationship stretches back to when plans for a merger with Xstrata began to be formulated by Glencore chief executive, Ivan Glasenberg. In 2009 Blackrock helped inject $2.2bn into Glencore, which at the time was facing mounting pressure on its liquidity. The fund manager still collects 5pc a year in interest payments on its allocation of bonds, which are due to be paid at the end of 2014. Other Xstrata investors have privately said this has influenced their assessment of the deal. But Ms Raw stressed there were "differing views across the firm as to whether or not the deal is a good one" with more than one fund manager holding shares.