Vedanta increases HZL OFS size, to now offload 3.31% stake

Mining conglomerate Vedanta on Wednesday said it has raised the offer-for-sale size of Hindustan Zinc and will now offload 3.31 per cent stake in the company, representing up to 14 crore shares.

On Tuesday, the Vedanta board approved the sale of up to 11 crore shares or 2.60 per cent stake in Hindustan Zinc through offer-for-sale (OFS).

"The duly authorised Committee of Directors of Vedanta Ltd , at its meeting held on August 14, 2024, has approved the sale of up to 14,00,00,000 equity shares of Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL),

representing 3.31 per cent of the issued and paid-up equity share capital of HZL, by way of an offer-for-sale," Vedanta said in a filing to BSE.

At Wednesday's closing price of Rs 572.95 apiece on BSE, the sale of HZL's 14 crore shares will fetch Vedanta Rs 8,021 crore.

At 11 crore shares, the amount would have been Rs 6,302 crore.

At the end of the June quarter, Vedanta owned 64.92 per cent stake in HZL while the government had 29.54 per cent.

Vedanta plans to demerge its aluminium, oil and gas, power, base metals, and iron and steel businesses into separate listed entities.

This demerger aims to reduce refinancing risks and reliance on dividends from Vedanta Resources Ltd (VRL).

As on June 30, 2024, Vedanta's net debt stood at Rs 61,324 crore.

Vedanta has reported 36.5 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,606 crore for the quarter ended June 2024.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 2,640 crore in the year-ago period. Income rose to Rs 36,698 crore from Rs 34,279 crore.

Last month, the mining conglomerate raised Rs 8,500 crore (over USD 1 billion) through Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP) of 19.31 crore equity shares at an issue price of Rs 440 per share.