LONDON—U.S. hedge fund Harris Associates LP said it boosted its stake in Glencore PLC to 4.5%, making it one of the mining and trading firm's biggest investors as it bets on a rebound in a stock that has tumbled more than 40% this year.

The move boosts Harris's position in Glencore from 1.53% at the end of June, and 0.77% at the end of last year, according to FactSet. While at times Harris has pushed for change at companies in which it invests, more recently it has tended to buy up large, passive stakes.

A person familiar with the matter said Glencore Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg has held talks with Harris Associates about its investment in the mining company, without characterizing those discussions. The investment makes Harris Glencore's fourth-biggest shareholder, behind sovereign-wealth fund Qatar Holding LLC, Mr. Glasenberg himself and BlackRock Inc.

The disclosure comes just ahead of Glencore's half-year earnings Wednesday. Analysts expect it to report sharply lower half-year net profit. Prices for most of the commodities Glencore produces and trades, particularly copper and coal, have fallen significantly.

Shares in the Anglo-Swiss company have swooned amid a global commodities-price rout. Glencore, the world's third-largest publicly traded diversified mining company by market value, has underperformed its other big peers as investors have weighed its large debt.

While shares finished up 3.6% Tuesday in London, they are down 41% since the start of the year, at 176.10 pence ($2.74) as of Tuesday's close. That is a much sharper fall for the year than competitors like BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto PLC, the world's No. 1 and No. 2 miners by market capitalization, respectively.

Stock in the Baar, Switzerland-based company has fallen more than 60% since its initial public offering in 2011. Glencore shares hit a record low Monday.

Shortly after the IPO, Mr. Glasenberg orchestrated a $29.5 billion merger with mining giant Xstrata. Mr. Glasenberg has said Glencore's trading operations would buoy it from the ups and downs of the mining industry's commodities cycle. As recently as last year, Mr. Glasenberg was scouting for new conquests: Last October, Rio Tinto disclosed it had rejected an approach over the summer by Mr. Glasenberg about a merger.

Amid the current commodities-price bust, Glencore has been forced to write down about $7.6 billion on its Xstrata deal. Last week, it said it would take a further $790-million write down on its roughly $1.5-billion purchase of a Chad-focused oil company that it bought last year.

Harris, which manages more than $100 billion, calls itself a "value investor" that looks for companies that are trading at a significant discount. A company spokeswoman said the fund doesn't consider itself to be an activist investor.

Still, the fund has assumed an activist role in the past. David Herro, currently a chief investment officer at the firm, was credited in 1994 with ousting Maurice and Charles Saatchi from the advertising agency the two founded, Saatchi & Saatchi. The business later split into Saatchi & Saatchi and Cordiant Communications, where Mr. Herro also lobbied for management change. Saatchi & Saatchi was eventually sold to Publicis Groupe SA, while Cordiant was sold to WPP PLC.

Write to Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@wsj.com

 

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 18, 2015 15:45 ET (19:45 GMT)

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