Why did the Dutch court reject Glencore's bid to buy back Access World Group at a discounted price?

The Amsterdam District Court rejected Glencore's request for a private transfer of Access World shares to its subsidiary Tironimus because Glencore failed to demonstrate that a public auction would be harmful, the proposed transaction posed a genuine conflict of interest, and the valuation underpinning the $51.4 million equity offer—prepared by Vantage Valuation—was insufficiently justified; additionally, the court criticized the lack of transparency and limited bidder pool in the original 2022 sale to Global Capital Merchants Limited (GCM), which undermined confidence in the current valuation.

What were the key financial details surrounding Glencore’s vendor loan to GCM and its current status?

Glencore provided GCM with a $100 million vendor loan in 2022 to finance the $176.7 million acquisition of Access World, later increasing it to $140 million; as of March 31, 2026, the outstanding amount totaled approximately $108.9 million—including about $20.3 million in interest—with GCM having defaulted on a repayment due in January 2023.