On April 16, 2013, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) conditionally approved the merger of Glencore International Inc. and Xstrata Plc. This is the first merger approved by the MOC with conditions in 2013.

As to the largest miner merger ever filed for approval, the MOC and Glencore had several rounds of negotiation to reduce the negative impacts of exclusion or restraint on the Chinese markets of copper, lead and zinc metals. On April 12, 2013, Glencore filed a Relief Commitment to the Purchase of All Public Stocks of Xstrata by Glencore (Relief Commitment), which the MOC believed could reduce the negative effects on competition, and then approved the Glencore-Xstrata merger subject to the Relief Commitment.

This merger already received conditional approval by the antitrust authorities in European Union and South Africa. The Competition Commission of South Africa required limiting the timing and scale of a likely retrenchment subsequent to the transaction. The EU Commission’s green light was conditional on that Glencore should terminate its purchase of zinc metal in European Economic Area from Nyrstar, the largest zinc metal producer in the world, and should spin off the 7.79% shares of Nyrstar it held. Different from the commitments it made in South Africa and EU, Glencore committed before the MOC that it would sell off its interests in Las Bambas of Peru and would continue to provide Chinese clients the same amount of metals as Glencore and Xstrata supplied under contracts in 2011 and 2012 for a period of eight years from January 1, 2013. These special commitments, consisting of both structural and conduct remedies, illustrate the thorough investigation made by the MOC into the transaction between Glencore and Xstrata, and the confidence of the MOC to supervise Glencore to be obliged by the Relief Commitment.

Also, it is the first time for the MOC to disclose such a relief commitment in full on its website, a noteworthy step to enhancing transparency of merger approval procedures and the implementation of the Antitrust Law of China.