Vedanta To Split Business Into Six Listed Ventures Through Demerger

Vedanta Ltd on Friday announced plans to demerge five of its key businesses, including aluminium, oil and gas, and steel, into separate listed entities with a view to create shareholder value.

Owned by billionaire Anil Agarwal, the company unveiled the establishment of independent verticals through the demerger of its underlying companies.

In a regulatory filing, the company disclosed that its Board of Directors, during a meeting held on the same day, approved the demerger of diversified businesses to unlock significant value.

As part of this strategic move, Vedanta Limited is set to transform into six separate listed entities, each with a distinct focus:

• Vedanta Aluminium
• Vedanta Oil & Gas
• Vedanta Power
• Vedanta Steel and Ferrous Materials
• Vedanta Base Metals
• Vedanta Limited

“The de-merger is planned to be a simple vertical split, for every 1 share of Vedanta Limited, the shareholders will additionally receive 1 share of each of the 5 newly listed companies,” the firm said in a stock exchange filing.

Vedanta has a portfolio of assets among Indian and global companies with metals and minerals – zinc, silver, lead, aluminium, chromium, copper, nickel; oil and gas; a traditional ferrous vertical including iron ore and steel; and power, including coal and renewable energy; and is now foraying into manufacturing of semiconductors and display glass.

Commenting on demerger, Anil Agarwal, chairman, Vedanta, said, “By demerging our business units, we believe that will unlock value and potential for faster growth in each vertical. While they all come under the larger umbrella of natural resources, each has its own market, demand and supply trends, and potential to deploy technology to raise productivity. In line with Vedanta’s ethos, each company will continue to retain a strong commitment to the well-being of our workforce, our communities and our planet. Even as we move to new ways of running our businesses, we will remain steadfast to transform for good.”

Moreover, the move will need shareholder and other regulatory approvals and the process could take two to three months, the source told news agency Reuters, declining to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

The company was valued at 776.29 billion rupees ($9.33 billion) as of Wednesday, down by about a third so far this year.

Agarwal said last month that Vedanta will consider separately listing all or some of its businesses, in contrast to his failed attempt in 2020 to delist Vedanta to speed up the process of simplifying its corporate structure.

Earlier this year, Agarwal sought to trim down the group’s debt load of $7.7 billion by getting Hindustan Zinc Ltd, a unit of Vedanta Ltd, to buy some of the parent’s zinc assets in a $2.98 billion deal.

However, the government, which owns nearly 30% stake in Hindustan Zinc, opposed the move.

(With agency inputs)