LONDON--Glencore PLC said it will distribute $1 billion to shareholders next year after completing a multibillion-dollar program of asset sales designed to pay down debt with the disposal of $4.7 billion in transport, agricultural, and mining businesses.

The Switzerland-based mining and commodities-trading company said on Thursday that, with the latest asset sales, it has sold $6.3 billion in assets compared with an original target $1 billion to $2 billion.

The company is on track for net debt of $16.5 billion to $17.5 billion by the end of this year.

Glencore last year had promised to sell operations to cut borrowings after a mounting debt pile and sagging commodities prices sent its shares tumbling.

Glencore said the $1 billion in cash it plans to distribute to its investors next year would be paid in equal tranches in the first and then the second half of the year. The company plans a new dividend distribution policy from 2018.

Write to Razak Musah Baba at Razak.Baba@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 01, 2016 03:15 ET (08:15 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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