Anil Andarwal to offer $1 billion to buy full stake in Vedanta Resources
One of the largest resource companies in the world could go private, following an intention of its largest stakeholder to buy out a majority stake.
Vedanta Resources, one of the worlds largest diversified natural resources companies, has announced that its chairman has offered to pay $1 billion through a family trust.
Anil Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta, will look to invest the money through his Volcan company, which currently holds around 67% of Vedanta.
Reuters has reported that an independent committee has evaluated the proposal and has unanimously recommended the offer to Vedanta’s shareholders.
Agarwal, in his offer, noted that while the company’s success in being the first Indian company to list on the London Stock Exchange back in 2003, Vedanta has reached a level of maturity that can see it soar to new highs as a private company.
“I am pleased to announce this initiative, which is a natural progression of our journey to simplify the Vedanta Group’s corporate structure,” said Angarwal in a statement.
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“The London listing has served us extremely well since that time. However, given the subsequent growth of our underlying businesses and the maturity of the Indian capital markets, together with related feedback from our shareholders and other stakeholders, we have concluded that a separate London listing is no longer necessary to achieve the Vedanta Group’s strategic objectives. In taking this important step towards greater group simplification, we wanted to ensure that the independent shareholders of Vedanta Resources Plc were provided with the opportunity to exit on attractive terms, and I believe this possible offer will deliver on that objective.
The deal sees Vedanta valued at close to $3.7 billion.
