Vedanta eased some of its liquidity woes as Hindustan Zinc, ~65% owned by Vedanta, announced another dividend, this time of INR 109.9bn ($1.3bn) on Tuesday. This will help the Anil Agarwal-led company address some of its upcoming debt obligations, most notably:
- $416mn of principal and coupon on its 8% bonds due 23 April
- $27.8mn coupon on its 9.25% 2026s due on 23 April
- $517.8mn of principal and coupon on its 7.125% bonds due 31 May
The dividend payment, the fourth for this year, is unusual for Hindustan Zinc, which paid one dividend all of the previous financial year and two in the financial year prior to that. This comes after the Indian government said it will block Vedanta’s sale of mining assets to Hindustan Zinc. Most recently, the company was downgraded to Caa1 by Moody’s last week on increased refinancing risks.
Vedanta’s 8% bonds due next month rose by 2.4 points to 95.6 currently.
For more details, click here
