Anil Agarwal makes stake jump of 4% in Vedanata in 4 months

Vedanta Resources promoter Anil Agarwal increased his stake in the company by nearly four per cent to 69.51 per cent in past four months triggering speculation that he was moving towards delisting the mining giant from the stock exchanges.

According to Vedanta's filings to the London Stock Exchange (LSE), Agarwal increased his stake by 3.94 per cent between December 13, 2013 and March 21, 2014 in 28 transactions and acquired 10.77 million shares of the company.

The value of shares purchased are over 104 million. Since March 31, 2013, Agarwal's stake in Vedanta has gone up by 4.53 per cent. Agarwal had made his last two purchases on March 19- 20, when he acquired 9,08,746 company shares, amounting to 0.34 per cent stake, for 7.44 million. Industry sources said the gradual build up of Agarwal's stake in the company has led to rumours about delisting. However, no official word was available on this as a company spokesperson did not respond to calls seeking comment.

An industry observer said that the rise of nearly four per cent in four months in promoter's stake has not been witnessed since its listing on the LSE on December 10, 2003. Moreover, Agarwal's stake in Vedanta has gone up by over 15 per cent since its listing and he has been increasing his stake in the company every year. Agarwal purchased 2,10,000 shares at the value of 851.48 pence per shares on February 20 via his investment dealer Volcan Investments.

Agarwal controls Vedanta through 100 per cent- owned Volcan Investments Ltd, which has been incorporated in the Bahamas. In recent times, the metals and mining conglomerate has been struggling with fall in revenue due to lower commodity prices and regulatory issues. The company was degraded from the FTSE- 100 index last year due to low commodity prices and regulatory hurdles resulting in loss of a third of its stock value in the last one year.

Courtesy: Mail Today