Cairn Energy set to vote against Vedanta-Cairn India merger: Report

Britain's Cairn Energy Plc is set to vote against Vedanta Ltd's $2.3 billion buyout offer for Cairn India's minority shareholders, a newspaper report said on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the situation.

Cairn Energy's objections were over "fundamental disagreements over valuations", and its preference for "holding an investment in an energy company rather than a distributed resources group," the report said.

News of Cairn Energy's objections comes a day after Cairn India chief Mayank Ashar said the merger was on track.

Spokespeople for Vedanta and Cairn India could not be immediately reached for comment outside business hours.

A spokesman for Cairn Energy said the company had no comment on the report.

Ex-parent Cairn Energy is the single largest minority shareholder in Cairn India in which Vedanta already has a 59.88 per cent stake.

State-owned insurer Life Insurance Corp (LIC) is Cairn India's second-largest minority shareholder and holds about 19 per cent stake in it. LIC had earlier expressed reservations about the deal.

The deal is being seen by many as a test for the country's new shareholder protection law, which requires an approval of more than half of the minority shareholders to go through.