Vedanta Ltd. will repay about $4.9 billion through strategic sale of its iron ore and steel assets, Vedanta Group Chairperson Anil Agarwal said.
"Even though we have the option to carry this debt further, the sale would allow us to have the option of becoming a zero-debt company," Agarwal told BQ Prime's Sajeet Manghat in an interview.
The sale will be completed by March 2024, he said. He didn't clarify whether he plans to sell one of the six demerged companies that will be listed on the Indian exchanges.
The metals-to-mining conglomerate announced that it looks to unlock value through demerger into six listed companies. The company will demerge aluminium, oil and gas, power, steel, and metal businesses into separate listed entities, according to an exchange filing.
The transaction is planned to be a simple vertical split. Vedanta will continue to operate the display and semiconductor manufacturing units under itself.
Out of the $6.4 billion total debt, Agarwal also highlighted the upcoming debt payments of $1 billion in January and $500 million in August 2024. "We have enough internal resources to make these payments timely."
Vedanta expects to receive SEBI approval in October and complete the process of demerger in the next fiscal.
Agarwal confirmed the demerger of Vedanta-owned Hindustan Zinc into zinc, lead, silver, and recycling businesses.
On Sept. 29, the board of the company authorised the committee of directors to evaluate corporate restructuring exercises to unlock shareholder value, the company said in a disclosure to stock exchanges.
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