Vedanta Raises $800M Through Bond Issuance

Vedanta Resources Finance II PLC (VRF) said in a Singapore exchange notification that it has raised US$800 million by issuing new bonds. The issue comprises two tranches of bonds– one with an aggregate principal amount of US$300 million of 10.25% Bonds due 2028 and the other involving an aggregate principal amount of US$500 million of 11.25% Bonds due 2031.

The bonds are expected to be rated “B-” by Fitch Ratings Ltd. and “CCC+” by S&P Global Ratings and will be listed on the electronic platform of Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST). VRF will use the net proceeds from the issuance of the new bonds to prepay Vedanta’s existing bonds.

The bond issue received final combined orders of US$1.19 billion, indicating an oversubscription of 1.5X. The bids were received from existing as well as new set of investors across Asia Pacific (APAC), Europe the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and US with more than 90% participation from asset / fund managers across both the tranches. As per VRF’s stock exchange notification, the final allocation of the Bonds includes 32% from Asia, 36% from EMEA, and 32% from US for the bonds due in 2028. For the bonds due in 2031, the allocation includes 35% from Asia, 23% from EMEA, and 42% from US.

A spokesperson for Vedanta Resources said “We are delighted by the tremendous response to Vedanta’s $800 million bond issuance. With this, Vedanta has successfully refinanced $2 billion worth of outstanding bonds in the past few months. The huge confidence and trust of the global investor community in Vedanta is reflected in the significant geographical spread and marquee names who have participated in these issuances.

Our commitment towards attaining a balanced capital structure through deleveraging our balance sheet remains our top priority. We have also achieved optimisation of costs on the entire $2 billion, represented by a saving of ~3% p.a. for the Company. We are confident of continuing to deliver substantial value to our global and domestic investors in the years ahead, and we will continue to evaluate all financing options going forward.”

This new issue comes as Vedanta 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. It is redeeming bonds with higher interest rates and issuing newer ones with a comparatively lower interest rate. Vedanta Resources has reduced its net debt by ~ $1 bn in the first half and refinanced bonds of over US$ 1.2 billion in the current fiscal.

In September, Vedanta raised US$900 million, the company’s first dollar bond issue in more than two years, to prepay existing bonds. The US$ 900 million raise was at a coupon rate of 10.875 percent in a five-year US dollar-denominated bond. Following this, VRF exercised a tap option on its September bond issuance, raising a further US$ 300MN.