By Clara Denina
LONDON (Reuters) -Miner and trader Glencore said on Tuesday it is reviewing all its business activities in Russia including equity stakes in aluminium and hydropower group En+ Group <ENPLq.L> and oil giant Rosneft.
The London-listed miner has a 10.5% stake in EN+, is majority owner of aluminium producer Rusal , and has a 0.57% stake in Rosneft.
“We have no operational footprint in Russia and our trading exposure is not material for Glencore,” it said in a release.
A series of Western companies has been severing ties with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, under pressure from governments and shareholders.
Major oil producers Shell, BP and Equinor all decided to halt or abandon Russian business ventures and investments.
In February, Glencore, which trades millions of barrels of oil a day, sold out of Russian oil group RussNeft, because it was no longer material to its business, capping two decades of investments.
A new leadership at Glencore is reshaping the company after the old guard, led by ex boss Ivan Glasenberg and former head of oil Alex Beard, kept close ties with Moscow for two decades.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2017 awarded state medals to Glasenberg after Glencore and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, QIA, bought nearly a fifth of Rosneft for more than 10 billion euros. Months later, Glencore sold most of its stake, holding on to the current 0.57% and a five-year supply deal that expired in 2021.
Back then, most big state Russian banks were already subject to U.S. and European sanctions imposed on Russia over its annexation of Crimea and interference in east Ukraine in 2014.
(Reporting by Clara Denina)
