Hindustan Zinc’s (HZL) board on Tuesday approved a fourth interim dividend of ₹26 per share for FY23, amounting to ₹10,985.83 crore, with March 29 as the record date.
The company had declared a dividend of ₹13 per share in January and prior to that, it announced a dividend of ₹15.50 per share in November 2022. It had announced the first dividend of ₹21 per share in July.
Billionaire Anil Agarwal-helmed Vedanta
Earlier in February, the Indian government opposed HZL’s planned $2.98 billion acquisition of zinc assets from Vedanta over concerns of valuations and the deal being a “related party transaction”. In January, HZL had agreed to buy THL Zinc, Mauritius, from Vedanta in phases over 18 months.
HZL was scouting to acquire zinc mines in South American and South African countries or Europe and was ready to spend anywhere between $1.5-2.5 billion for the right buy. Going forward, the company would continue to spend $300 million a year as sustenance capex, which is mostly for developing underground mines.
HZL has completed investing its earlier planned capex for raising annual production capacity to 1.2 million tonne (MT) from the earlier 0.8 MT.
The firm is also setting up a zinc alloy plant in Dariba, Rajasthan. This year, HZL expects to cross 1 MT in metals as it aims to reach 1.2 MT in a year’s time and later to 1.35 MT.