Vedanta Resources offers dollar bond with one of the highest yields in Asia

Mining giant Vedanta Resources Ltd. kicked off an offering of dollar bonds with one of the highest yields in Asia this year, as pressures at the company mount.

The firm is offering the securities with initial price guidance in the 14.5% area, according to a person familiar with the matter. It will use the money to finance a buyback offer for $670 million of notes maturing June 2021.

Strains have been increasing at the company, which is controlled by billionaire Anil Agarwal, after its attempt to delist Indian unit Vedanta Ltd. failed in October. The planned delisting would have given the parent easier access to cash there. Moody’s Investors Service lowered Vedanta Resources’s credit rating further into junk territory earlier this month.

Processing Alumina And Manufacturing Aluminum At Vedanta's Lanjigarh Refinery and Jarsguda Smelter

The Vedanta Ltd. Alumina Refinery in Lanjigarh district, Odisha, India in 2019. People familiar with the matter had said Tuesday that investors had sought about 15% but the company was considering some additional conditions including a debt limit on its subsidiaries that are guarantors of the planned note.

The size of the offering is benchmark and the tenor is 3 years 1 month, and non-callable for the first two years, according to the person Wednesday, who isn’t authorized to speak about the matter and asked not to be identified.