Vedanta to sell all its steel assets by March 2024: Anil Agarwal
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India's Vedanta Ltd is planning to complete the sale of its steel assets by March 2024, group chairman Anil Agarwal told CNBC TV 18 on Tuesday.
The company began the review of its steel and steel raw material business in June. The company is planning to sell the business to concentrate its focus on core mining business. The mining major entered into the steel production market through the acquisition of ESL Steel in 2018 for 52.30 billion rupees.
Last week, the company announced to spin off into various commodity-focused companies looking to shore up financials. Its parent firm Vedanta Resources is currently reeling under an outstanding debt of $6.4 billion. The group's rating was also downgraded by rating agencies due to its outstanding debt. Agarwal on Tuesday told CNBC-TV18 that Vedanta has lined up finances of about $1 billion in January and $500-$600 million due in August and is also talking to bond holders.
The company in June began the review of its steel and steel raw material business. The recent announcement came after Vedanta approved restructuring of its major operations. The announcement brought cheers among the investors boosting the company's share value by as much as 4% today. The company shares were trading 4.25% higher at ?231.95 per share on BSE at 2:30 pm.
Company's restructuring plan includes demerger of its diversified business into six separate listed companies. The demerger will take around 12 to 15 months to complete, in case of receiving all mandatory approvals on time.
As per the proposed demerger, the existing company will be split into different entities, ie Vedanta Aluminium, Vedanta Oil and Gas, Vedanta Power, Vedanta Steel and Ferrous Materials, Vedanta Base Metals and Vedanta Ltd. Company's existing shareholders will receive additional one share of each newly listed entities for one share of Vedanta.
(Source : Live Mint)
