LONDON - Two of the world’s commodity powerhouses, Vitol and Trafigura, have raised over $10 billion this week, despite rival Glencore’s run-in with investors, which they say shows bankers understand the sector better than bond or equity dealers. As commodities prices tanked in late September, a series of research notes on Glencore unleashed a bear raid on stocks and bonds of publicly- and privately-held companies. But that has not stopped privately-owned Vitol, the world’s largest oil trader, from closing a syndicated loan worth $8 billion this week. Rival Trafigura, whose founder Claude Dauphin lost his battle with cancer last week at the height of the turmoil engulfing Glencore, closed syndication on a $2.2 billion loan that was so much in demand by the banks, its size was increased from the originally-planned $1.6 billion back in July. “The successful loan syndication reflects the gap in understanding between banks and bond investors,” Trafigura chief financial officer Christophe Salmon told Reuters. “Banks have better understanding of commodity trade finance business because most have been lending to the sector for 15-20 years,” he said. Glencore was at the heart of the storm, losing as much as 30 percent of its value in a single day, as falling base metal and oil prices ignited concern about the sustainability of its business, given the size of the company’s $30 billion debt pile relative to its dwindling revenues. Copper, iron ore <.IO62-CNI=SI> and crude oil prices have tumbled by 16 to 25 percent in 2015, putting pressure on miners to turn a profit. BALANCING RISKS Glencore’s credit default swaps—a form of insurance against a default—are trading around 600 basis points, meaning that the market perceives Glencore’s bonds to be riskier than those of Iraq, Angola or Nigeria. Trafigura, which is privately held, saw its bonds come under fire, which pushed the yield on its April 2018 notes to around 15 percent, from closer to 7 percent six weeks ago. The company believes its success in tapping the capital markets speaks for itself and the spike in its bond yields is just more proof that dealers do not understand its business the way that its bankers do. “Our bond prices are suffering due to the ripple effect from Glencore, which is a very different company with a majority of its revenue coming from its mining activity. There is concern in the overall commodity sector without making differentiation between producers, refiners and traders,” the company said. Shares in Singapore-listed energy trader Noble Group have hit record lows this month, while its bonds are yielding some 18 percent, having tripled in just over a month. Mercuria Energy will be next to test bankers’ faith when it seeks to access the debt markets later this month. Mercuria launched its $900-million annual refinancing into general syndication last week, the proceeds of which will refinance the company’s $1 billion loan in Asia. Banks have until Oct. 30 to respond with their interest in acting as lead arrangers. (Additional reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov in LONDON and Umesh Desai in SINGAPORE; Editing by David Evans)