Glencore to announce plan to cut debt, shares halted

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Commodities trading firm Glencore Plc on Monday said it is set to announce fresh plans to cut its $30 billion in net debt, as it called a trading halt on its Hong Kong shares.

The firm has been under pressure to cut debt as prices for its key products, copper and coal, have sunk to more than six-year lows, while its trading division has failed to provide the cushion it had counted on.

Its stock has slumped nearly 60 percent this year to record lows, much worse than rivals like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto , amid concerns it may have to sell new shares to pay down debt.

Standard & Poor's warned last week it may lower Glencore's 'BBB/A-2' credit ratings, if the company's ratio of adjusted funds from operations-to-debt failed to recover to more than 23 percent from 20 percent in the year to June 2015.

"We would likely lower the rating on Glencore if we perceive reduced commitment to defending the rating or if commodity prices persist below our price deck or fall further, absent material offsetting factors," S&P said last week.

But the rating agency said Glencore's scale in the trading business and its plans to cut capital spending should help it hold on to the rating.

(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Stephen Coates)