Promoters of the group can't dispose of Vedanta shares, says lender

A day after Vedanta pledged almost its entire stake in Hindustan Zinc, a lender to the group said the promoters can’t dispose of their 68.1 per cent stake in Vedanta, according to an agreement with it, exchange filings on Friday showed.

In a filing, OCM Verde Xi Investments, a lender, said following an agreement in 2020-21 with Vedanta group promoter entities — Vedanta Holdings Mauritius, Finsider International Company (FICL), Vedanta Resources and Westglobe, a charge was created on all the issued shares of Vedanta, FICL and Westglobe in favour of OCM.

With this, certain restrictions were created on Vedanta promoters with regard to selling, transferring or otherwise disposing of any of the shares held by them/or to be acquired by them in Vedanta Ltd.

Following signing of a release deed in May, the charge created on all the issued shares of FICL in favour of OCM has been released.

However, the charge on the issued shares of Vedanta and Westglobe, as well as the restrictions on promoters on creation of any security, or to sell, lease, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of their shares in Vedanta continues to be in force, OCM Verde, an Oaktree entity, said.

Vedanta Resources and other promoter companies own 68.1 per cent stake in BSE-listed Vedanta Ltd, which in turn holds 64.9 per cent stake in Hindustan Zinc. 

Vedanta stake was pledged from 2020 onwards by the group’s promoter Anil Agarwal to raise funds. On Thursday, Hindustan Zinc had announced that almost the entire stake held by Vedanta Ltd has been pledged by the company.

The shares were pledged on May 23 to raise a five-year loan of $850 million with JP Morgan Chase and Oaktree Capital Management. In a report on Friday, CreditSights, a research firm, said raising the fresh $850-million loan further allays near-term refinancing risk.