Vedanta Resources makes upfront payment of $779 million to bondholders under restructuring exercise

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Metals and mining giant Vedanta Resources Ltd on Friday said it has made an upfront payment of $779 million to its bondholders and completed repayments as part of the debt restructuring exercise. The upfront payment to the bondholders was made on Wednesday, Vedanta Resources Ltd (VRL) said in a statement. VRL has completed repayments to its bondholders on February 7, 2024, in line with the consents it received earlier in the year in which maturities of USD 3.2 billion in bonds were successfully extended to 2029, the statement said.

"Vedanta Resources has successfully made an upfront payment of USD 779 million in cash on February 7 to bondholders to redeem a portion of the bonds, and extend their maturities," the company, promoted by billionaire Anil Agarwal, said. It has also paid a consent fee of $68 million to the bondholders who had agreed to the restructuring, the company said. Vedanta in January received consent from bondholders to restructure four series of bonds to ease its massive debt burden.

These series of bonds include two of USD 1 billion each that were due for maturity in 2024, one USD 1.2 billion bond in 2025 and one USD 600 million in 2026. VRL in December had secured a USD 1.25 billion loan from private credit lenders to refinance/repay part of the USD 3.2 billion debt maturing in 2024 and 2025. Vedanta Group announced a significant demerger and reorganization plan in September last year.

The move will recast the Vedanta Group across 17 major businesses, the statement said. "Each of the businesses has world-class management leadership, employ the latest cutting-edge technologies have import substitution and fulfilment of domestic demand as a core proposition. They also offer high quality and