ERHC Energy Inc (ERHE)

[Southern Man]

LONDON— Glencore Xstrata GLNCY +1.44% PLC snapped up African-focused oil producer Caracal Energy Inc. CRCL.LN +54.97% on Monday for $1.35 billion in cash, just hours after selling a Peruvian copper mine for nearly $6 billion and putting paid to a rival deal between Caracal and Canadian oil company TransGlobe Energy TGL.T +3.42% Corp.

The Swiss-based mining and trading giant will acquire London-listed Caracal in full for around $9.20 a share, according to a joint statement from the companies. Caracal, whose main assets are oil fields in the central African nation of Chad, had been on the verge of merging with TransGlobe Energy.

Glencore's acquisition of Caracal underscores its ambition to increase its oil market presence, and its willingness to buy assets in politically risky countries. It will take over Caracal's operatorship of its Chadian oil fields which are located near giant fields operated by U.S. firm Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM +1.27% Although Glencore has a number of stakes in various West African oil fields, this is the first producing field that it will manage and control itself.

Chad, an oil and mineral-rich former French colony in the Sahel region that cuts between North and sub-Saharan Africa, is relatively peaceful. But it is situated in a tough neighborhood—the Central African Republic to its south is embroiled in a bloody interreligious conflict.