BENGALURU: Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal led Vedanta Ltd. He said on Thursday that talks about any stake sale in the big miner were “false and unsubstantiated” after Bloomberg reported that the tycoon was considering selling less than a 5% stake in the company.
Vedanta shares fell as much as 6.3% after the report.
According to Bloomberg, Agarwal is evaluating whether to sell a stake of less than 5% in the Mumbai-listed company, said the people, who asked not to be named because the information is private. A stake sale in Vedanta is a last resort for the billionaire and will only be considered if other fundraising options fail, the people said.
The company has a market value of about $12.2 billion. A 5% stake is worth about $610 million.
Agarwal’s Vedanta Resources Ltd, which owns around 70% of Vedanta, has been in talks with at least three banks for a loan of up to $1 billion, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month. Discussions are ongoing and no final decisions have been made on the loan, the people said.
“Any talk about selling shares in Vedanta Ltd. is false and baseless,” a representative for the companies said in response to a Bloomberg News query.
Vedanta Resources may depend on dividends from its Hindustan Zinc Ltd subsidiary to help pay down $400 million in dollar-denominated bonds due in April, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report. Hindustan Zinc said on Tuesday it will pay an interim dividend of Rs 26 per share, or a total of about Rs 110 billion ($1.3 billion).
Rising interest rates around the world have put pressure on borrowers with low scores and heavy debt loads like Vedanta’s. The Vedanta Group agreed in January to sell a zinc manufacturing business to its Hindustan Zinc subsidiary for $2.98 billion in phases over 18 months. The Indian government, which owns around 30% of Hindustan Zinc, strongly opposed the deal.
Vedanta Resources cut its net debt by $2 billion in the current fiscal year and will continue to deleverage on net debt of $7.7 billion over the next two financial years, the company said in an exchange filing in February.
Agarwal, a self-made billionaire, was looking to expand his business empire into a resource conglomerate like BHP Group Ltd. He was the largest shareholder in Anglo American Plc until 2019, when he dumped his investment because his profits “came even earlier than expected.” “. He tried, but failed, to take the cash-rich Vedanta private in 2020. Agarwal then considered a potential merger of his closely-owned Vedanta Resources and the Mumbai-listed company, Bloomberg News reported last year.
Agarwal built his fortune on a series of ambitious acquisitions: In 2001, he bought control of then-government-owned Bharat Aluminum Co, in an early test of India’s efforts to divest itself of state stakes. He went on to buy another government entity, Hindustan Zinc. In 2007, he successfully bid for India’s largest iron ore producer, Sesa Goa Ltd., and for Cairn India, despite having no oil and gas experience.
Vedanta shares fell as much as 6.3% after the report.
According to Bloomberg, Agarwal is evaluating whether to sell a stake of less than 5% in the Mumbai-listed company, said the people, who asked not to be named because the information is private. A stake sale in Vedanta is a last resort for the billionaire and will only be considered if other fundraising options fail, the people said.
The company has a market value of about $12.2 billion. A 5% stake is worth about $610 million.
Agarwal’s Vedanta Resources Ltd, which owns around 70% of Vedanta, has been in talks with at least three banks for a loan of up to $1 billion, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month. Discussions are ongoing and no final decisions have been made on the loan, the people said.
“Any talk about selling shares in Vedanta Ltd. is false and baseless,” a representative for the companies said in response to a Bloomberg News query.
Vedanta Resources may depend on dividends from its Hindustan Zinc Ltd subsidiary to help pay down $400 million in dollar-denominated bonds due in April, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report. Hindustan Zinc said on Tuesday it will pay an interim dividend of Rs 26 per share, or a total of about Rs 110 billion ($1.3 billion).
Rising interest rates around the world have put pressure on borrowers with low scores and heavy debt loads like Vedanta’s. The Vedanta Group agreed in January to sell a zinc manufacturing business to its Hindustan Zinc subsidiary for $2.98 billion in phases over 18 months. The Indian government, which owns around 30% of Hindustan Zinc, strongly opposed the deal.
Vedanta Resources cut its net debt by $2 billion in the current fiscal year and will continue to deleverage on net debt of $7.7 billion over the next two financial years, the company said in an exchange filing in February.
Agarwal, a self-made billionaire, was looking to expand his business empire into a resource conglomerate like BHP Group Ltd. He was the largest shareholder in Anglo American Plc until 2019, when he dumped his investment because his profits “came even earlier than expected.” “. He tried, but failed, to take the cash-rich Vedanta private in 2020. Agarwal then considered a potential merger of his closely-owned Vedanta Resources and the Mumbai-listed company, Bloomberg News reported last year.
Agarwal built his fortune on a series of ambitious acquisitions: In 2001, he bought control of then-government-owned Bharat Aluminum Co, in an early test of India’s efforts to divest itself of state stakes. He went on to buy another government entity, Hindustan Zinc. In 2007, he successfully bid for India’s largest iron ore producer, Sesa Goa Ltd., and for Cairn India, despite having no oil and gas experience.