China has cleared Glencore’s $64bn merger with Xstrata after the trading house agreed to sell a mining project to end 15 months of haggling over one of the largest ever deals in the natural resources industry. 在嘉能可(Glencore)同意出售旗下一处采矿项目后，中国有条件批准了嘉能可与斯特拉塔(Xstrata)价值640亿美元的合并交易，就此结束了围绕这桩自然资源领域有史以来规模最大的并购交易长达15个月的讨价还价。

The long-awaited approval from Beijing clears the last big hurdle to create one of the world’s largest companies in the natural resources industry, combining production and trading. 期待已久的来自中国政府的批准，为创建自然资源领域全球规模最大的企业之一，清除了最后一项主要障碍，合并而成的巨头将集资源开采和交易于一身。

Glencore said that in order to assuage concerns from China about its influence in the copper market following the merger it would sell Las Bambas, a big copper project in Peru. In addition, the trader agreed to continue to supply China with copper ore at the same rate as it and Xstrata collectively have done over the past two years. 嘉能可表示，将出售位于秘鲁的一处大型铜矿项目拉斯邦巴斯(Las Bambas)，以减轻中国对于合并交易完成后自身在铜矿市场影响力过大的担忧。除此之外，嘉能可还同意将按照其与斯特拉塔过去两年的整体均价继续向中国供应铜矿石。

Analysts said the deal was favourable for Glencore as Xstrata investors had already been questioning the plan to invest in Las Bambas, which could be worth about $4bn-$5bn. Chinese antitrust authorities have rarely intervened in deals in the past, but the Ministry of Commerce, or Mofcom, has been quietly flexing its muscle over the past five years. The regulator has already blocked some deals, including Coca-Cola’s planned $2.4bn takeover of juice maker Huiyuan, and imposed conditions in others, such as the merger between Russian fertiliser companies Silvinit and Uralkali. 分析师表示，这一交易有利于嘉能可，因为斯特拉塔的股东们已经开始就投资拉斯邦巴斯的计划提出质疑，该项目的价值约在40亿至50亿美元之间。中国的反垄断监管当局过去很少对并购交易加以干涉，而中国商务部在过去五年中一直在不声不响地发挥影响。中国商务部已经否决了数项交易，其中包括可口可乐(Coca-Cola)出资24亿美元收购果汁生产商汇源果汁(Huiyuan Juice)的计划；还对数项其他交易提出了限制条件，例如俄罗斯肥料生产企业Silvinit与乌拉尔钾肥(UralKali)的并购交易。

With the Glencore-Xstrata deal moving to completion, the miner said its chief executive Mick Davis would not take the same role at the combined group for six months as previously intended – allowing Ivan Glasenberg from the trading house to take control of the company straight away. 在嘉能可与斯特拉塔的合并交易走向完结之际，斯特拉塔表示其首席执行官米克•戴维斯(Mick Davis)不会像此前计划的那样在合并后的集团中担任6个月的同等职位——这将使嘉能可的伊凡•格拉森伯格(Ivan Glasenberg)得以立刻直接掌权。

Glencore said that as part of its deal with Beijing, it would sell Las Bambas before September 2014, at a minimum price of its fair value. 嘉能可表示，作为与中国政府达成协议的一部分，将在2014年9月之前按照拉斯邦巴斯项目公允价值所能许可的最低价格将其出售。

If a buyer cannot be found, Beijing will select one of the trading house’s other copper assets from a selection of four in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Argentina to be sold at auction. 如果其无法找到买家，中国政府将从嘉能可的其余四处铜矿项目中选择一处指定拍卖。这四个项目分别位于菲律宾、巴布亚新几内亚以及阿根廷。