Anil Agarwal to take Vedanta private in Rs 16,000 crore cash offer

MUMBAI: Metals and mining magnate Anil Agarwal plans to offer Rs 16,200 crore in cash to take the Mumbai-listed Vedanta Ltd private, the Indian agency said on Tuesday. Vedanta Sources, the London-based outfit which Agarwal delisted in 2018, is offering Rs 87.5 for a share of Vedanta Ltd to minority shareholders of the BSE/ NSE-traded agency. 
The offer worth is at a 2% low value to Vedanta Ltd’s Tuesday closing worth of Rs 89.30 on the BSE nonetheless represents a 10% premium to the stock’s last shopping for and promoting worth on Monday. Vedanta Sources, along with completely different corporations, holds 50.14% of Vedanta Ltd, whereas public shareholders private the remaining 49.86%. Agarwal, who started as a scrap vendor and now has a web value of $three billion in accordance to Forbes, has been simplifying the corporate building of his enterprise and the delisting of Vedanta Ltd is part of that effort.

Taking the company private is the “subsequent logical step” in the simplification course of and might current additional operational and financial flexibility in a capital-intensive enterprise, said Vedanta Sources. Beforehand, Agarwal merged Sterlite with Sesa Goa to sort Vedanta Ltd in 2012, 4 years later he folded Cairn India into Vedanta Ltd, after which in 2018 delisted Vedanta Sources’s shares from shopping for and promoting on the London Stock Change. 
The delisting proposal of Vedanta Ltd comes amid the coronavirus pandemic that has depressed stock markets and clouded the demand for metals globally. 
“Due to the affect of Covid-19 pandemic, we now have accelerated the simplification approach in this tough setting to assure assist for vital deleveraging and to enable us to proceed to make investments in the growth of the enterprise,” said Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal. 
The delisting transaction will rework the credit score rating profile of Vedanta Sources, which holds 36.8% in the India unit, and might assist an accelerated debt low cost programme in the medium time interval, added Agarwal. The delisting offer will current public shareholders of Vedanta Ltd an opportunity to realise fast and positive value for his or her shares at a time of elevated market volatility, the company said. 
If Agarwal had gone for the delisting of Vedanta Ltd in early January, then he would have had to pay about Rs 6,500 crore higher than what he’s paying now as stock has fallen 40% from its extreme.