Vedanta moves closer to going private, gets shareholder nod for delisting

Vedanta has moved a step closer to going private with the company securing shareholders’ green light for the proposal. The company on Thursday disclosed the results of the postal ballot for the special resolution seeking voluntary delisting of equity shares from the NSE and BSE. The company obtained 93.3 per cent votes ‘in favour’ of the proposal, while 6.7 per cent ‘against’ vote. 

Nearly 85 per cent of institutional public shareholders and 75 per cent of non-institutional shareholders voted in favour of the proposal.

Many had raised doubts on the company securing the shareholder go-ahead as the base price for delisting set by Vedanta promoters was much below current market price.

In May, Vedanta said that promoters intended to acquire 49 per cent from public shareholders at Rs 87.5 per share to delist. Shares of Vedanta closed at Rs 111.3, with a gain of 1.6 per cent on Thursday.

The company will now have to launch the so-called reverse book building (RBB) process to delist. Under RBB, public shareholders can bid at any price. The promoters have the choice to accept the price discovered through RBB or make a counter offer. If the counter offer is acceptable to the shareholders the delisting bid is successful. In the past, the delisting price has been way higher than the indicative price.

Many believe that the final delisting price could be near the stock’s 2020 high of Rs 165.