Glencore Plc bought assets at the top of the market and is now selling at the bottom, said Kynikos Associates LP founder Jim Chanos, hinting that he is short the stock.

“We are not going to comment on our position in Glencore, but what I will say is we know the company pretty well,” Chanos said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in New York. “I’m a potential purchaser,” he added. “To close out a short position you have to buy stock.”

Glencore, the Swiss commodities trader that’s seen manic share-price swings in the past two weeks, is in the process of selling assets and curbing production to assuage investor concerns about its debt burden. The company said Monday that it’s seeking to sell two copper mines in Australia and Chile that analysts at Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG say may be worth as much as $1 billion.

Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg announced a debt- reduction plan in September, which includes the already completed sale of $2.5 billion of new stock, asset sales, spending cuts and suspending the dividend — in total reducing debt to about $20 billion. The shares have almost doubled from a record low set Sept. 28.

‘Doesn’t Sound Smart’

“I’m concerned about a company that’s supposed to have this great trading acumen that seems to be buying things at the top of the market and selling them at the bottom,” said Chanos, who rose to fame after predicting the 2001 collapse of Enron Corp. “That just doesn’t sound smart to me.”

A Glencore spokesman couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. The shares slid 1.9 percent to 126.65 pence as of 1:36 p.m. in London.

Glencore shares are down 57 percent this year on concern that lower commodity prices and slowing growth in China will make it difficult to pay down debt. Glasenberg bought assets near the peak of the commodities boom, including the $29 billion all-share deal for Xstrata Plc in 2012.

“The problem with Glencore is that this was a company with 80 percent trading, 20 percent hard assets until 2012 — right at the top of the cycle they bought Xstrata, changed the face of the company completely,” Chanos said.

“The whole idea was if there was a downturn in the commodities markets the trading acumen would help offset the hard assets. It didn’t work that way. If that was the reason to put this thing together one has to question that strategy,” he said.