Mining major Vedanta (VEDL), a subsidiary of London-headquartered Vedanta Resources (VRL), plans to raise up to Rs 8,500 crore through various modes, including public offerings and rights issues in one or more tranches.
The Anil Agarwal-led firm has also recommended an interim dividend of Rs 11 per share for FY25 with the record date of May 25, entailing an outgo of Rs 4,089 crore, Vedanta said in a stock exchange update. Vedanta’s board, which met on Thursday, said that its committee of directors will decide on the fundraise structure, where the proposal includes the issue of equities and other financial instruments.
The moves come at a time when Vedanta and its parent VRL were looking to raise funds to trim debt. The dividend would enable VRL repay part of its debt. VEDL had paid dividends worth Rs 37,573 crore in FY23. The parent had cut its debt by $3.7 billion over the past two years and was looking at reducing debt by another $3 billion over three years.
Agarwal holds a 61.95% stake in VEDL through various entities, with an 11.58% retail shareholding and the remaining is held by institutional investors and others. On Thursday, Vedanta’s board also approved an investment in Vedanta Copper International VCI Company to set up a continuous cast copper rod plant in Saudi Arabia.The company is in the process of set up a copper rod manufacturing facility with a projected capacity of 125 kilo tonne per annum (KTPA) in Saudi Arabia, which will enable it to explore growth opportunities in new geographies.
Post the investment, VCI shall become a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.In November 2023, Vedanta’s arm Malco Energy had set up a new unit in Saudi Arabia for copper business with an investment of 100,000 Saudi riyals. Malco Energy had set up Vedanta Copper International VCI Company.Earlier in February, Finsider International Company, a promoter group company of Vedanta, sold as much as 65.52 million shares in the mining major valued at Rs 1,737.16 crore through multiple block deals. The shares changed hands at Rs 265.14 a share, 5% lower than Wednesday’s closing price of Rs 279.20. On Thursday, shares of Vedanta closed down 0.96% at Rs 433.20 on the BSE.