23rd Mar 2009 07:00
23 March 2009
Vedanta Resources Plc
Offer to minority shareholders of MALCO
Vedanta Resources plc ("Vedanta" or the "Group") announced a cash offer to the minority shareholders of the Madras Aluminium Company Limited ("MALCO") on 26 February 2009. This offer for shareholders holding shares in the dematerialised form was carried out by way of a reverse book build tender which closed on 20 March 2009. Vedanta has accepted the discovered price of Indian Rupees ("INR") 115 per equity share and intends to acquire approximately 14.9 million shares of MALCO tendered at the discovered price. This represents a total cash payment of INR 1,713 million ($34 million). Vedanta's shareholding in MALCO will increase to 93.2%.
Application for delisting of MALCO will be made to the Indian stock exchanges and MALCO shares will be delisted once the requisite approvals have been received. As required under Indian regulations, the offer to purchase shares in MALCO from minority shareholders holding shares in physical form will open on 26 March 2009 and close on 9 April 2009 at the discovered price of INR 115 per equity share. Furthermore, Vedanta will also accept shares from the minority shareholders holding MALCO shares in either dematerialised form or physical form at the discovered price of INR 115 per equity share for a period of six months following date of the delisting.
For further information, please contact:
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Sumanth Cidambi Director - Investor Relations Vedanta Resources plc |
Tel: +44 20 7659 4732 / +91 22 6646 1531 |
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James Murgatroyd Robin Walker Finsbury |
Tel: +44 20 7251 3801 |
About Vedanta
Vedanta is a London listed FTSE 100 diversified metals and mining major. The group produces aluminium, copper, zinc, lead, iron ore and commercial energy. Vedanta has operations in India, Zambia and Australia and a strong organic growth pipeline of projects. With an empowered talent pool of 29,000 employees globally, Vedanta places strong emphasis on partnering with all its stakeholders based on the core values of entrepreneurship, excellence, trust, inclusiveness and growth. For more information visit www.vedantaresources.com
About MALCO
MALCO is a primary aluminium producer in South India with operations encompassing mining, refining, smelting and power generation. It has a capacity of 40,000 tpa of aluminium. On 10 December 2008, MALCO announced that it had temporarily suspended aluminium production in response to the fall in LME aluminium prices. MALCO's alumina refinery and power plant continue to operate. MALCO reported profits before tax of INR 752.7 million for the year ended 31 March 2008. Gross assets as at 31 March 2008 were INR 6,843.8 million. Through a wholly owned subsidiary, Vedanta currently holds 80% of the outstanding shares in MALCO.
Disclaimer
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" - that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "should" or "will." Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets including the London Metal Exchange, fluctuations in interest and or exchange rates and metal prices; from future integration of acquired businesses; and from numerous other matters of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different that those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.
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