Mining Giants Verdanta To Delist from London Stock Exchange

Anil Agarwal has announced his plans to delist his firm Verdant Resources PLc from the London Stock Exchange, after buying out 33.5% of non-promoter shareholders for $1 billion.

Agarwal’s Volcan Investments Ltd, which currently holds 66.53 per cent of Vedanta, made a cash offer for 825 pence a share, a 14 per cent premium to company’s three-month volume weighted average price.

Vedanta Resources in a statement said it will recommend acceptance of the offer by the shareholders, who would also be entitled to a previously announced dividend of $0.41 per share.

The company no longer sees the London listing as necessary to access capital and the deal will simplify Vedanta’s corporate structure, it said.

The move comes weeks after the killing of 13 protesters in police firing at the firm’s copper smelter plant in Tamil Nadu last month that led to political opposition to the company in the UK and drop in its share price.

Volcan is a holding company wholly owned by the Anil Agarwal discretionary trust. Agarwal is also Anglo American’s biggest shareholder with a nearly 20 per cent stake through Volcan.