Vedanta to Restructure its Businesses to Offload Debt
According to people familiar with the matter, Vedanta Ltd. is preparing to list a number of its key businesses as part of a broad restructuring effort that, if successful, could help tycoon Anil Agarwal reduce a multibillion-dollar debt load.
As per the people, the company has informed its lenders of the planned restructuring and may announce it in the coming days. Businesses such as aluminium, oil and gas, iron ore, and steel will be listed separately, they said, declining to be identified because the information is confidential.
Vedanta Ltd.'s parent company, Vedanta Resources Ltd., will continue to serve as the holding company. Deliberations are still ongoing, and no final decisions have been made on the structure or timing of the de-merger.
Resolving Agarwal's indebted group's byzantine corporate structure has long been a priority, but a global increase in borrowing costs has raised the stakes, with about $2 billion of bonds due to be redeemed next year. In August, Agarwal floated a plan to separate some of his operations, but provided no details.
Vedanta can reduce a deep conglomerate discount by listing more of its businesses separately, implying that it is currently worth less than the sum of its parts. The move paves the way for additional capital to be raised through share sales and simplifies the process of divesting unprofitable businesses, which Agarwal has long avoided.