Anil Agarwal likely pares Vedanta stake in large block deal, shares drop 6%

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Shares of Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta tumbled 6.5% to the day’s low of Rs 424.50 on BSE as the promoter group likely pared stake in the conglomerate via a block deal.The promoters have reportedly offloaded 17.1 crore shares of the company and the transaction value is estimated to be around Rs 7,000-8,0000 crore. The official buyers and sellers of the transaction are not yet known.A Vedanta Resources spokesperson said Finsider International Company Ltd, a subsidiary of VRL, has accepted a proposal from one of its banks to sell 2.6% shareholding in Vedanta Limited to a group of reputed institutional investors."This is in line with the Group's commitment to significantly deleverage its balance sheet at both the India and the VRL level and in line with the broader initiatives to support its strategic growth plans. Post repayments made from the transaction, VRL would have reduced its debt by upwards of $650 million since the beginning of FY2025," the spokesperson said.Earlier in the day, ET reported that the promoters were likely to sell a stake of about 2.5%, or 9 crore shares, to raise Rs 4,000 crore through the transaction at a discount of around 8-10% to help Vedanta Resources repay debt due for payment in the next few months.Finsider International, part of Vedanta Resources, is believed to have sold the stake in the block deal today, ET Now reported. More details about the deal will be known later on.Agarwal has been seeking to slash the group's debt burden. London-listed Vedanta Resources reduced its net debt to $6 billion in FY24 from $9.7 billion in FY22. The company aims to cut it to $3 billion over the next three years. Vedanta Resources has long-term debt maturities of $900 million in FY25 and another $900 million in FY26.UK-based Vedanta Resources held a 61.95% stake in India-listed Vedanta Ltd as of March 31 through six subsidiaries. Shares of Vedanta Ltd have rallied 76% so far this year to Rs 451 on Tuesday compared with a 7% gain in the Sensex year-to-date. The group's Indian assets are held through Vedanta Ltd. In February, Finsider International, part of Vedanta Resources, sold more than 65.5 million Vedanta Ltd shares for Rs 1,700 crore. The shares were sold at Rs 265.14 apiece.Vedanta Ltd has proposed a vertical split of the India businesses and will list five entities on the domestic stock exchanges. That’s expected to happen by the end of this year. The demerger will create independent pure-play companies in aluminium, power, base metals, oil and gas, and steel and ferrous derivatives, while zinc and other existing businesses will remain under Vedanta Ltd.