Billionaire Agarwal Shakes Up Vedanta Empire as Debt Bill Looms

Billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Ltd. has announced plans to overhaul the tycoon’s sprawling conglomerate as part of efforts to reduce a multibillion dollar debt load.

(Bloomberg) — Billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Ltd. has announced plans to overhaul the tycoon’s sprawling conglomerate as part of efforts to reduce a multibillion dollar debt load.

The board of Vedanta Ltd. approved a plan to separate the business into six listed verticals — aluminum, oil and gas, power, steel and ferrous, base metals and Vedanta Ltd., the company said in a statement Friday. For every share of Vedanta Ltd., shareholders will receive one share of each of the five newly listed companies, it said.

Bloomberg News reported earlier this week that a broad restructuring effort was imminent, with business including aluminum, oil and gas, iron ore and steel to be separately listed. Efforts to simplify a complex financial structure and to reduce a deep conglomerate discount have been floated by the group in the past, including in a video posted in August, but have not previously come to fruition.

Friday’s move, if successful, would pave the way for Agarwal hive off low-growth assets to raise cash, while allowing investors to bet on some of the company’s newer ambitions, including in semiconductors. 

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