Vedanta Resources to meet debt holders in HK, Singapore
Vedanta Resources will be meeting offshore bondholders in Hong Kong and Singapore next week to assess if they would be willing to roll over $3.2 billion of bonds — due in 2024 and 2025 — under different terms, said people aware of the development. The company is also considering an option to redeem a small portion of the bonds ahead of scheduled payment, partly to lure bondholders to agree to roll over the bonds, the people cited above said.
Standard Chartered Bank and JP Morgan have organised the meeting with bondholders between September 11 and 15, they said.
Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta Resources, the parent company of India-listed Vedanta Ltd, has $1 billion 13.875% bonds due in January 2024, $1 billion 6.125% bonds due August 2024 and $1.2 billion 8.95% bonds in March 2025.
Vedanta Group did not respond to ET's requests for comment.
«That the company raised money from its rivals ($200mn from Trafigura and $250mn from Glencore International AG), increased brand fee and sold a 4% stake of its stake in the Indian subsidiary reflect the challenges it faced in seeking debt through more traditional channels such as bank loans or private credit,» said a lender. «In such a scenario, rollover is an option Vedanta will actively pursue,» he added.
According to a recent report by Kotak Securities, Vedanta Resources has 'largely addressed' the funding gap of FY24 through various one-time measures, including a stake sale in Vedanta Ltd.
The other measures taken to arrange for $1 billion were front-ended large dividends, raising brand fees ($413 million) and deferring a $450 million inter-company loan from Vedanta. In FY23, Vedanta declared ₹37,730 crore as dividends; of this, ₹25,698 crore was upstreamed to the parent.
However,
