Vedanta to be delisted from Indian bourses, says Anil Agarwal

Mumbai: Mining major Vedanta is set to take the company private.

In a late evening stock exchange filing, billionaire Anil Agarwal’s company announced the decision by its parent Vedanta Resources.

Promoter holding in the company stood at 50.14 per cent, while public shareholders held 49.46 per cent as per March-end shareholding data.

Vedanta will offer Rs 87.5 per share to nearly 49 per cent public shareholders. The offer price was fixed at a 9.9 per cent premium to Monday’s closing price of Rs 79, but fell short of Tuesday’s closing price of Rs 89.30.

In the filing, Vedanta said promoter group Vedanta Resources (VRL) has expressed its intention to, either individually or along with one or more subsidiaries, acquire all fully paid-up equity shares of the company that are held by the public shareholders of the company.

“VRL has informed us of their willingness to accept the equity shares of the company tendered by the public shareholders in the delisting offer at a price of Rs 87.5 per equity share which represents a premium of 9.9 per cent over the closing market price of Rs 79.6 as on May 11, 2020 on BSE and NSE,” the company said in a BSE filing.

Ahead of the announcement, Vedanta shares closed 12.2 per cent higher at Rs 89.30 on the BSE, in an otherwise weak Mumbai market.

Previously, in July 2018, Anil Agarwal had unveiled plans to delist Vedanta Resources from the London Stock Exchange to try and simplify the company's structure. He completed the buyout successfully in October that year. It was the first Indian company to list in London in 2003 in a $644 million offering.