London-headquartered Vedanta Resources (VRL), the parent company of Indian mining major Vedanta, received bondholders’ approval to extend the maturity period of four series of bonds worth $3.2 billion due in the next three years.
The bondholders approved extension of the deadline with votes ranging between 97% and 100% in favour of the proposal, in contrast with the minimum 66.7% required. The results came after the voting for the proposal ended on Tuesday, VRL said in a regulatory update on Wednesday.
If the consent conditions are not satisfied by January 29, 2024, the solicitations will be terminated.Earlier on December 14, VRL sought investors’ approval to extend the maturity date of its $3.15-billion dollar bonds, even as it secured $1.25-billion new funding to repay part of the debt.
VRL also offered to pay $779 million by early February for the three bonds – due in January 2024, August 2024 and March 2025 – and has sought extending their maturity periods for as much as four years through a consent solicitation exercise.
The company intends to repay the bonds using a mix of cash and new bonds.The company, helmed by Anil Agarwal, would also use $1.25-billion proceeds from a new financing for the partial pre-payment of the bonds, it said in an investor presentation.
With the consent exercise, VRL will improve the current structure and economics of the bonds through an improved security package, priority derisking or repayments and other enhancements.
Vedanta Resources Investments and Vedanta Holdings Mauritius II, the wholly-owned subsidiaries of VRL, were the borrowers.VRL will exchange about half of the January 2024 bonds with the new bonds maturing in January 2027, and most of the August 2024 and March 2025 bonds with the new ones maturing in December 2028.
VRL has a debt maturity of $1 billion in 13.875% bonds due in January 2024, which the company wants to refinance by December 23, and another $1 billion due in August 2024. Furthermore, it has a $3.1-billion debt obligation in FY25.
