"The book called "oil king" about marc rich, the founder of glencore might be of interest to some subscribers. i personally enjoyed it very much.

"i have been involved in the cotton trade for the last 40 years. my impression was that commodity companies were reluctant to go public for two reasons: they did not like the regulations it brought, and it was difficult to explain to shareholders that the quarterly reporting hardly means anything in the commodity trade. Obviously times have changed, and maybe glencore will be able to handle these issues smoothly. in our "small" cotton world, there are rumors that glencore is in negotiation to buy louis dreyfus commodities. as always, thanks for the wonderful service."

David Fuller's view Thanks for your kind words and the book recommendation.

Your impressions as to why commodity companies have been reluctant to go public make sense to me, and I am not sure that "times have changed."

A cynical but smart journalist acquaintance, long retired, said to me many years ago: "The only reason people float their companies is because they can get more for them than they are worth."

I doubt that Glencore needs the capital raised, but at least everyone in the firm, having lived through 2008, now know that they sold off part of the company when the going was good. From a trader's perspective, it certainly makes sense.