Vedanta Resources Raises $1.1bn Via Bonds

New Delhi: Mining mogul Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources has raised $1.1 billion through a new bond offering to prepay existing liabilities, the company said in a Singapore exchange filing.Vedanta Resources Finance II plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, raised $1.1 billion through a new dual tranche issuance in international debt capital markets. Vedanta Resources Ltd (VRL) has raised $3.1 billion in dollar bonds since September 2024.

As per the exchange filing, the latest bond issuance consists of two tranches - a $550 million tranche of 5.5 years tenor at a 9.475 per cent interest rate and a $550 million tranche of 8.25 years tenor at a 9.850 per cent interest rate. Both tranches garnered strong investor demand with the bonds receiving final orders of $3.4 billion from over 135 accounts, representing an oversubscription of 3.1x, the company said.

“The net proceeds from the offering of the Bonds will be used to prepay Vedanta’s outstanding bonds (including any accrued interest thereto), pay any related transaction costs in connection thereto and to service other debts,” it said.

Marquee investors from the United States, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and Asia were amongst the major investors. Bonds are expected to be rated ‘B’ by S&P Global and ‘B2’ by Moody’s Ratings. Moody’s recently upgraded VRL corporate family rating (CFR) to B1 from B2 on the back of recent moves. The final bonds allocation included 61 per cent from Asia, 30 per cent from EMEA, and 9 per cent from the US for the 5.5-Year Tranche and 54 per cent from Asia, 30 per cent from EMEA, and 16 per cent from the US for the 8.25-Year Tranche.

Ajay Goel, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, said: “The latest transaction marks the complete refinancing of Vedanta’s restructured bonds. The strong interest in the series of transactions reflects significant investor confidence in the several strategic steps that Vedanta has taken over the last several quarters in terms of delivering record production, cost rationalisation and deleveraging.” VRL has refinanced $3.1 billion in US dollar bonds since September 2024 through four successive international bond transactions.