Vedanta open to revising proposal to delay payments on miner’s dollar bonds

Few of the bondholders said they wanted more cash up front than Vedanta offered, while other investors requested changes to the collateral for some debt and a date for asset sales, the report cited sources.

“Discussions with bondholders are ongoing and feedback continues to be solicited and provided. There is no conclusion on the form or shape of any exercise at this stage,” Bloomberg quoted a spokesperson for the company as saying.

With Vedanta facing roughly $2 billion worth of debt maturing next year, the mining giant is looking to raise funds. Earlier last week, when Moody’s Investors Service cut the company deeper into junk, it flagged the risk of a debt restructuring.

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Meanwhile, seeking to pay back just a portion of its dollar bonds maturing in 2024 and 2025 in cash, Vedanta has approached investors, stating the remainder of the principal deferred for three years.

This plan is expected to see the firm repay about half of the January 2024 note’s principal and a smaller proportion of the March 2025 debt.

Billionaire Anil Agarwal’s miner is also in talks with distressed investors to raise $1 billion via a private loan and India-based unit Vedanta Ltd is due to be split into six entities.

According to a report by CNBC-TV18, earlier this week, Agarwal said Vedanta had lined up funds to pay back debt. To which ratings agency Crisil said it understood that a refinancing plan would likely get executed by the end of October.

However, India-based unit Vedanta Ltd’s split-up plan has complicated talks for the $1 billion loan, that is most likely to be used for debt repayment. It won’t be finalized this month, according to the report by Bloomberg.

With agency inputs.

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Updated: 06 Oct 2023, 04:29 PM IST