Promoter may sell 2.5% in Vedanta via block deals this week
Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Resources is likely to sell a minority stake in Vedanta Ltd this week through block deals, people aware of the development said. The promoter group is likely to sell a stake of about 2.5%, or 90 million shares, to raise ₹4,000 crore through the transactions, said one of the persons.
The sale is likely to happen at a discount of around 8-10%, one of the persons said. It will help Vedanta Resources repay debt due for payment in the next few months, one of them said.
Agarwal has been seeking to slash the group's debt burden. London-listed Vedanta Resources reduced its net debt to $6 billion in FY24 from $9.7 billion in FY22. The company aims to cut it to $3 billion over the next three years. Vedanta Resources has long-term debt maturities of $900 million in FY25 and another $900 million in FY26.
The company did not respond to ET's queries.
UK-based Vedanta Resources held a 61.95% stake in India-listed Vedanta Ltd as of March 31 through six subsidiaries. Shares of Vedanta Ltd have rallied 76% so far this year to ₹451 on Tuesday compared with a 7% gain in the Sensex year-to-date. The group's Indian assets are held through Vedanta Ltd. In February, Finsider International, part of Vedanta Resources, sold more than 65.5 million Vedanta Ltd shares for ₹1,700 crore. The shares were sold at ₹265.14 apiece. Since then, Vedanta Ltd shares have rallied 77%.
Consolidated net debt at the Vedanta Group (comprising Vedanta Resources, Vedanta Ltd, Hindustan Zinc) was $12.35 billion as of March 31. Of this,
