![Ivan Glasenberg has got the slice of Rio's thermal coal assets he wanted, but not without plenty of blood and sweat.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170728081714/http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/k/1/w/b/4/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gxktqr.png/1501224480869.jpg)
The next chapter of the story of Ivan Glasenberg's genius almost writes itself.
Just a few weeks ago, Glasenberg's Glencore was beaten in an auction for Rio Tinto's Coal & Allied thermal coal business to Chinese-backed group Yancoal, which paid $US2.69 billion ($3.55 billion) to secure the assets.
But overnight Thursday, Glasenberg pulled off a stunning coup, paying Yancoal and Rio's Japanese former partner in C&A; a bit more than $US1.14 billion ($1.4 billion) for a 49 per cent stake in a mine called Hunter Valley Operations, which sat inside C&A.;
The mine isn't just the best of the C&A; business, it also sits adjacent to Glencore's own Hunter Valley coal operations, meaning that Glasenberg will get his chance to grab the synergies that attracted him to the auction in the first place.
It didn't take long for praise for Glasenberg to arrive.
"Glasenberg was never going to give up on the final lap," the Financial Times said. "In fact, one suspects he followed Yancoal's boss into a revolving door. And came out first. Jogging."
It's a lovely line, but not everyone is so impressed.
One very senior mining executive said on Friday it was a little hard to understand Glasenberg's rationale.
He was late to the C&A; auction, and forced Yancoal to lift its bid price twice. While he has done well to secure a joint venture with the Chinese-backed group, he arguably made it more expensive to do so and he may end up eating into some of his synergies.
It is worth nothing that Barclays says Glencore is paying a premium of about $US400 million to get into HVO.
Also, did he err by not going to Yancoal first with a joint venture proposal? Or was it sensible to let the Yancoal purchasing process play out, given Rio seemed hesitant to provoke the Chinese by backing the Glencore bid?
Whatever the case, the deal certainly does demonstrate all of Glasenberg's tenacity and ability to change strategies to get a good result.
Glencore now has 69 million tonnes of production across the Hunter Valley and exclusive marketing rights to sell the HVO product into the key Japanese and South Korean markets. Glencore was already the largest exporter of sea-traded thermal coal, and this only cements its position as the king of that market.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Sterck said the price paid by Glencore would be about 8 per cent lower than the implied valuation of Yancoal's bid, but also pointed out that Glencore was only getting a minority stake in its new joint venture – plus the $US300 million of Yancoal shares it has agreed to buy as part of the deal.