Zijin Mining, China's largest gold producer, will convert the bonds it bought from Glencore International AG into shares as the Swiss commodities trader will stage an initial public offering on Hong Kong and London markets in the first half of the year, according to Zheng Yuqiang, director's secretary of Zijing Mining.

Glencore, the world's largest commodities trader, raised $2.2 billion in a convertible bond issue in December 2009. Buyers were the private equity firm First Reserve, the sovereign wealth fund Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, the asset manager BlackRock Inc and Zijin Mining Group, who bought $200 million.

Glencore's initial public offering will give those companies the chance to turn their debt holdings into shares.

"If Glencore goes public, Zijin Mining will opt to convert the bonds into IPO stocks," Zheng said.

Glencore plans to raise $2 billion -$2.5 billion from its Hong Kong IPO and, $10 billion from London, Bloomberg said in its January 26 report.

China's business press carried the story above on Friday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.