Ivan Glasenberg

The pricing of Glencore's public offer yesterday implies the commodities trading company would have a market value of $61 billion or R403.8 billion.

This means that Glasenberg's stake in the company, which is rumoured to be as much as 15%, would be worth $9.5 billion or 62.9 Rbillion at yesterday's exchange rate.

Should the value of this stake, which is just one of Glasenberg's assets, be compared to the wealth of the billionaires on the Sunday Times Rich List, which is based on publicly available information and only includes disclosed shareholdings in JSE-listed companies, Glasenberg would be South Africa's richest man by far.

According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2010, Indian steel magnate Laskhmi Mittal, who bought what is now ArcelorMittal SA in 2001, led the pack for the sixth consecutive year with a fortune of R21.5 billion. This only reflects the value of his holding in ArcelorMittal SA, and not the international ArcelorMittal Group.

In second place, and the richest South African, was mining executive Patrice Motsepe, who is worth R19.9 billion through his stake in African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) and Sanlam. This excludes, however, the value of his other investments.

De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer was ranked third on this year's Rich List, based on his 2.5% stake in Anglo American, which was founded by his grandfather Ernest in 1917.

The listing of Glencore will also make Glasenberg one of Africa's richest men. Placed against the net worth of individuals making the Forbes Rich List, Glasenberg would become the fifth South African on its list of 1,250 dollar billionaires.

He would be ranked at 93 along with Malaysian telecoms tycoon Ananda Krishnan and Russian fertilizer baron Dmitry Rybolovlev.

On Forbes list of African billionaires, he would knock Oppenheimer from the second spot to take a place behind Nigerian Aliko Dangote. Dangote has a net worth of $13.8 billion while Oppenheimer and family have a net worth of $7 billion.

Other South Africans on the list include Johann Rupert and family with a net worth of $4.8 billion, Motsepe at $3.3 billion and Christoffel Wiese at $1.6 billion.

When Glencore publishes its full flotation prospectus later on Wednesday, it is also expected to show that another two South Africans have become paper billionaires.

Steven Blumgart, the co-ordinator of Glencore's alumina and aluminium division, and Stuart Cutler, co-director of ferroalloys, nickel and cobalt, are seen as holding substantial stakes in the company - enough to make them rand billionaires.

Glencore has made its senior management promise not to sell their shares for at least five years after the public offering, which is set to take place later this month.

Glasenberg, in the meantime, has pledged not to sell a single share till he steps down as chief executive. For the 54-year old, who took up the seat of CEO in 2002, the stock market listing converts his stake into currency. Glasenberg who joined Glencore in 1984 has worked for Glencore for 27 years, Glasenberg, initially in the coal department in South Africa and Australia.

A fiercely private man, Glasenberg has been thrust into the limelight by the proposed listing on the London and Hong Kong bourses.

In fact the company's listing is one of London's largest ever with Glencore set to be the first company in 25 years and only the third ever to enter the FTSE 100 index on the day of listing. Glencore's equity makes it slightly bigger than Anglo American and puts it among the world's top-five commodities groups, which also include BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale. The listing also puts the publicity-shy company under the spotlight after 54 years as a private company.

Like Goldman Sachs, the company has an aura of misery, perhaps in part due to its beginnings.

Glencore was founded by Marc Rich, an American oil trader accused of breaking sanctions against Iran and later pardoned by US president Bill Clinton. Rich was bought out by Glasenberg and other managers about 17 years ago.

According to Australian daily, The Australian, the other part of the Glencore aura is speculation about how much its top traders are paid - the top traders are believed to earn at least what their counterparts at Goldman earn, if not more.

Last year, Glencore's directors and top managers split £90 million, the newspaper said.

But as the newspaper pointed out, the traders' salaries and bonuses will be dwarfed by the float payout. It will give the 485 partners who own Glencore shares on average $103 million each.