Vedanta chairman’s family trust offers $1 bn to buy out rest of firm
Chairman Anil Agarwal’s family trust plans to offer around $1 billion in cash to take London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc private, the Indian company said, as it grapples with the aftermath of deadly protests at home.
An independent committee that evaluated the proposal has indicated it supports the offer from the Volcan Investments trust, which represents a 27.6% premium to Vedanta’s last close, and would recommend it to shareholders.
Volcan holds almost 67% of Vedanta, and said on Monday it had reached an agreement in principle on a possible offer for the rest, although there was no certainty that a firm offer would be made.
Independent shareholders are expected to approve an offer as the shares have significantly underperformed, Jefferies analysts said. Shareholders will also be entitled to a previously announced dividend of 41 cents per Vedanta share, the firm said, adding that this would boost the offer price to 856 pence per share.
Agarwal, who started out as a scrap dealer, said last year that he did not intend to keep Vedanta in family hands and would withdraw from the group in the next few years. But the firm has come under scrutiny since May following demonstrations where police killed 13 protesters at a copper smelter in Tamil Nadu.
Volcan said it would aim to delist Vedanta from the London Stock Exchange a minimum of 20 days from the date it receives acceptances for a firm offer or had acquired or agreed to acquire shares from independent shareholders.