Vedanta to raise $1.5 bn to part-fund Cairn deal

NRI-billionaire Anil Agarwal promoted firm Vedanta Resources on Friday said it plans to raise up to $1.5 billion through private placement of bonds to part-finance its $9.4 billion acquisition of Cairn India.

The company would also launch a global road show from May 23 for the bond placement, which may be offered in one or more tranches, Vedanta said in a filing to the London Stock Exchange.

"Vedanta expects to use the proceeds of the offering for, among other things, to finance a portion of the purchase price for the acquisition and to pay related fees and expenses.

"This will result in a cancellation of commitments under a bridge facility for a total aggregate amount of up to $1.5 billion," the company's filing said.

The company has appointed Barclays Capital, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered Bank as joint global coordinators, joint lead managers and joint book runners, while Goldman Sachs International and Morgan Stanley have been hired as joint book runners for the bond issue.

It has also appointed UniCredit Capital Markets LLC as co-manager for the proposed private deal.

In August last year, the London Stock Exchange-listed firm had entered into an agreement with Cairn Energy for acquiring majority stake in latter's Indian arm, Cairn India.

Of this, Sesa Goa - a Vedanta Group firm - has acquired 18.5 per cent stake in the company through acquiring 10.4 per cent stake in Cairn India from Malaysian firm Petronas and 8.4 per cent stake through open offer.

Rest 40 per cent stake in Cairn India is yet to be acquired by Vedanta Resources as the deal has not been approved so far by the Government of India.

This is due to a dispute on royalty payments by Cairn India in its Rajasthan oil-fields, where state-run ONGC is a
30 per cent stake holder.

The government has referred the matter to a ministerial panel, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

On Thursday, Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy Plc had extended the deadline by an unknown period for closing the deal in order to enable Vedanta secure the necessary Indian government approvals.

April 15 was the original deadline for closing the transaction and later it was extended to May 20 by the two firms.

"In the event the acquisition (of 40 per cent stake in Cairn India) does not proceed for any reason, Vedanta intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to fund capital expenditure, repay debt and for other general corporate purposes," the company said.