Vedanta Limited: Delisting of Shares

On May 12, 2020, Vedanta Resources Limited, representing the London, United Kingdom company Vedanta Group, expressed its intention to buy all public shares of its Indian subsidiary Vedanta Limited and to delist it from all stock exchanges in India and New York. The chair of Vedanta Group explained that the decision to delist was largely driven by a strategy to simplify the group structure. The indicative offer price of ₹87.5 per equity share represented a premium of 9.9 per cent over the closing market price of ₹79.6 on the previous day. However, there was some doubt that minority shareholders would find the offer attractive. The final exit price, which would be determined through the reverse book-building process, was likely to increase. Exactly what amount Vedanta Resources Limited was willing to pay was a key factor in the quest for a successful delisting. Two other important considerations were the additional amount of borrowing required and future debt servicing constraints.