VRL To Repay $920 Mn Debt In Current Fiscal

New Delhi: Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources Ltd (VRL), as part of its deleveraging exercise, has proposed to repay $920-million debt in the current fiscal year and about $675 million in the next, a company official said.

The company has been gradually deleveraging its balance sheet, improving its capital structure, and lowering its financial costs by tapping bond markets as part of its liquidity management exercise. In a Q4 earnings conference call, Vedanta's Chief Financial Officer Ajay Goel said, "So $920 million is a debt repayment to do in the current year. Next year, FY27, it's about $675 million." The need for cash at VRL is declining rapidly, led by both deleveraging and refinancing, he said, adding that at the same time, overall cash flow at Vedanta India, given the augmented volume, compressed cost, is much higher. "So overall, we as a group in terms of cash management is historical best position," he explained.

Last year, Vedanta firmly established itself as one of the most proactive companies in terms of executing strategic corporate actions. "...we witnessed a number of such actions, including Rs 8,500 crore via QIP, Rs 3,150 crore via OFS for Zinc shares, $0.5 billion through equity partnership at our parent company Vedanta Resources, and also refinancing $3.1 billion bond portfolio for parent company at lower cost, longer maturities and much congenial terms and conditions," he said. All these actions have supported the company in achieving a deleveraging of $1.2 billion at the group level, of which $0.7 billion at parent company, VRL; and $0.5 billion at Vedanta India.