September 30, 2025

Mumbai-based Vedanta Resources Ltd (VRL), the London-headquartered parent of India's Vedanta, is cooking up a financial treat! The company is set to raise a whopping $500 million through vibrant seven-year dollar bonds. Why? To cut down expensive private loans, slice debt like a master chef, and make its money matters simpler and smarter. The senior notes will come from Vedanta Resources Finance II and will have a strong safety net — guarantees from VRL itself and its subsidiaries like Twin Star Holdings, Welter Trading, and Vedanta Holdings Mauritius II. The bond deal, following Rule 144A/Reg S guidelines, will likely hit the pricing stage as early as September 30. Moody's has given it a B2 preliminary rating, while Fitch has tagged it B+. These bonds will mature in October 2032, giving plenty of breathing room. Banks like Citigroup, Barclays, JPMorgan, Mashreq, SMBC, and Standard Chartered are leading this financial caravan as joint coordinators and managers. A company spokesperson told Bloomberg, "We are in the market to increase our average debt maturity profile and decrease our interest costs." The fresh funds, plus bank loans, will pay off a private credit facility from December 2023 that was due in April 2026. That facility was backed by Twin Star and secured on Vedanta’s brand fees, initially used to manage liabilities on three offshore bonds. Clearing this debt means all lenders will stand on equal footing (pari passu), wiping away messy layers of multiple debts and simplifying the setup. On a call with lenders, experts noted, "With this transaction, the group will clear out high-cost debt, fold multiple layers into a single structure, and move closer to completing the capital restructuring drive it began a few years ago." Vedanta has been on a debt diet, sharply reducing gross debt by over $4 billion—from $9.1 billion in 2022 down to $4.7 billion by June 2025. This giant leap was fueled by smart refinancing, asset sales, and raising equity funds. The company has extended average bond maturity from about three years to nearly five years, leaving only $1.2 billion to pay in the next 30 months, of which $0.8 billion is external debt. This repayment of pricey loans and refinancing external debt is expected to drop interest costs and tame the capital structure into a single, neat formation where all lenders are equal partners. Over the last year, VRL diversified funding, raising $2.2 billion via new bank loans and rupee non-convertible debentures, cutting interest expenses by 130 basis points. Plus, it raised $1 billion through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) and an additional $400 million from other sources. Vedanta’s financial makeover is like a spicy dish getting the perfect blend of ingredients — cutting costs, clearing layers, and setting the table for a healthier future!

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Tags: Vedanta resources, Debt refinancing, Dollar bonds, Capital structure, Moody's, Fitch,