Vedanta repays $100-mn loan to Standard Chartered Bank

Vedanta Resources Ltd, the parent company of mining and oil & gas company Vedanta, has repaid the $100-million loan raised by pledging its shares to Standard Chartered Bank on March 10, 2023, the company informed via stock exchanges. 

The Anil Agarwal-led mining giant said the earlier disclosure was made pursuant to a facility agreement on September 08, 2022, entered between Twin Star Holding Limited, Vedanta Resources Limited and Welter Trading Limited, Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Ltd for availing of a facility of an aggregate amount of $100,000,000.

“However, the said facility has been repaid and the encumbrance has been released,” the company said.

"This disclosure is being made by VRL in relation to the facility agreement being repaid and the encumbrance being released over the equity shares of Vedanta Ltd held by its subsidiaries i.e. Twin Star Holdings Ltd, Vedanta Holdings Mauritius II, Finsider International Company, Vedanta Holdings Mauritius, Vedanta Netherlands Investment BV, and Welter Trading," the company said.

The statement comes after the company recently assured investors that all of its debts due for repayment by March 2023 have been cleared; it paid $2 billion worth of loans in the past 11 months. 

The company, via a social media post, recently assured investors that it has a “tremendous asset base”. "We have a tremendous asset base which delivers high cash flows. There is the full capability to repay. With the ongoing expansions, we expect our revenue to be $30 billion in the near term," the company said.

Vedanta shares are trading 3.26% down at ₹271.1 on the BSE today. In contrast, the BSE benchmark Sensex is trading 0.088% or 33.87 points up at 57,606.82 today. The stock opened a gap-down at ₹277.85 and plunged to the day's low of ₹268.75. The stock has been down 3.93% in the past five days; 13.72% in the past month; 6.50% in the past six months; and 13.98% in the year-to-date period.

The recent sell-off in Vedanta shares was triggered by deepening concern about its proposal to sell its international zinc assets to subsidiary Hindustan Zinc and the strong U.S. dollar that led to the depreciation of Vedanta bond yield to 'junk' levels. The uncertainty regarding its $2 billion fundraising exercise further dented market sentiments.

As per a report, the Centre has not been happy with Vedanta's proposal to sell international zinc assets, as the government feels the move would affect its plan to divest its 29.54% residual stake in Hindustan Zinc. 

The Centre had opposed Vedanta's plans to sell its international zinc business to Hindustan Zinc for nearly $3 billion, flagging several concerns, including the rationale and valuation of the assets. Vedanta Resources, the London-listed parent of Vedanta, holds a 70% stake in Vedanta, which in turn owns 65% per share in Hindustan Zinc.