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Pipping
Mittal Steel with a Rs2,036 per share offer, UK-listed
mining company Vedanta has acquired Mitsui & Co''s
51 per cent stake in Goa-based iron ore exporter Sesa
Goa Ltd. Nomura Securities advised Vedanta on the deal.
Vedanta
has also said that it plans to buy another 20 per cent
stake at the same price that it paid for Mitsui''s stake,
taking its acquisition cost to $1.37 billion. Vedanta
paid $981 million for bought Mitsui''s stake.
The
Anil Agarwal-controlled Vedanta, which hopes to close
the transaction by July, this year, says it will pay
for the deal through a mix of newly committed bank debt
facilities of $1.1 billion and existing cash resources.
The
Sesa Goa acquisition marks Vedanta''s entry into the
iron ore market to its basket of metals that include
aluminium, copper and zinc. Sterlite Industries (India)
Ltd (SIIL), the flagship company of the Vedanta Group,
is a leading producer of copper in India.
The
UK-listed, India focused company sees strong demand
iron ore with China and India''s growth having led to
a global surge in global steel production.
The
Aditya Birla Group was also in the fray for the stake
in Mitsui, which is shifting its business focuss from
trading in natural resources to investments.
In
a statement shortly after the deal, the Japanese company
said that the sale would generate ¥50 billion (approximately
Rs1,750 crore) in profit, which it would deploy to invest
in other natural resources.
Shortly
after the deal, Agarwal, chairman, Vedanta, who owns
around 54-per cent of Vedanta, said in a statement,
"Sesa is a natural fit for Vedanta; it is an efficient,
low cost miner with growth opportunities in one of the
world''s fastest growing economies," Anil Agarwal
said in a statement.
He
also said there were no plans to delist Sesa Goa, which
currently sells around 10 million tonnes of iron ore,
which Vedanta plans to increase to around 15 million
tonnes within the next two years.
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