Vedanta,
Tuesday, Vedanta’s board approved the company’s fifth interim dividend, which was set at Rs 20.50 per equity share, or 2050 percent of the face value of $1, for the fiscal year that ended March 31. Rs. 7,621 crore will be the total.
With this, the company’s annual dividend will reach Rs 37,730 crore, its highest level ever.
The Agarwal family’s Vedanta Assets (VRL), which holds 70% stake in BSE-recorded Vedanta, will utilize the profit pay to reimburse a merged obligation of $11.8 billion. For FY22, Vedanta had Rs 32,612 crore in cash and cash equivalents and consolidated debt of Rs 53,581 crore.
Vedanta’s stock shut at Rs 274; The company’s total market value is Rs. 1.01 lakh crore. Since January of this year, it has lost 13 percent of its market value.
Vedanta had previously announced a four-payout interim dividend of Rs 81 per share for the current fiscal year. The company will receive Rs 101.5 per share as a result of the fifth dividend.
Vedanta’s subsidiary Hindustan Zinc previously announced a record dividend payout of Rs 32,000 crore for the upcoming fiscal year. The Indian government said that the Vedanta Group’s plan to combine its international zinc business with HZL was not in the best interest of minority shareholders. Hindustan Zinc is owned by the Indian government, which owns 29.5% of the company.
Vedanta Resources is in talks with international banks like Barclays, JP Morgan, and Stanchart to raise up to $1 billion to refinance old loans, according to banking sources. The Indian company has asked the Reserve Bank of India for permission to provide counter guarantees for the parent’s loan, but the central bank has not yet made a decision.
In the mean time, Vedanta CFO Ajay Goel has surrendered (compelling April 9, 2023) to seek after a vocation outside the gathering, the organization reported.
Vedanta is confident that it will meet its upcoming maturities in the quarter ending June 2023, according to a spokesperson. Refinancing and repaying with internal resources are two options we have. A spokesperson stated, “We are in an advanced stage of securing the necessary financing through a new $1 billion loan from a syndicate of banks.”
Moody’s downgraded VRL’s rating on March 10 because of rising refinancing risks surrounding the holding company. The rating firm amended the attitude toward Vedanta Assets to negative. ” “The continued delay in Holdco VRL’s efforts to refinance and its continued reliance on dividend receipts are reducing operating subsidiaries’ liquidity,” Moody’s Senior Vice President Kaustubh Chaubal stated. It stated that VRL would need a significant amount of cash for the following fiscal year, which would end in March 2024. These cash needs would be met by cross-border bonds with maturities of $400 million, $500 million, and $1 million, respectively, in April and May 2023. Included are billion-dollar bonds.
According to the rating agency, Vedanta Resources anticipates acquiring sufficient funds through debt and dividends by June 2023 to meet its debt maturity date. rates, a lack of liquidity in the market, and limited credit availability, Choubal stated. The likelihood of a payment default or distressed exchange is increased and the company is exposed to significant refinancing risks as a result of these issues.”
It stated that VRL paid back approximately $2 billion of its debt in FY23, but that maintaining liquidity and active liability management are more important to preserve VRL’s credit quality than cutting its debt.
