As a man who, in his teens, became the youngest qualified umpire in South Africa, Mick Davis is partial to a cricketing metaphor. For much of the past decade, as chief executive of Xstrata , he has played all the attacking strokes, shaking up the mining sector with a series of deals that helped increase the equity market value of the company a hundredfold to $55 billion.

But Glencore , the Swiss commodity trader run by fellow South African Ivan Glasenberg , has for once put Mr Davis on the back foot. Having initially agreed last year on a “merger of equals", with Mr Davis as chief executive, Mr Glasenberg raised the price for Xstrata, of which Glencore was already the largest shareholder, but secured the lead executive role for himself. “This is a takeover and no longer a merger, that’s the reality of it," says Mr Davis, speaking at Xstrata’s London office. When the Glencore-Xstrata bid closes, he will oversee a six-month transition, leading integration of the companies and then leave that office for good.