Response to press speculation

Response to press speculation

9 June 2015

Vedanta Resources Plc ("Vedanta", together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") and Vedanta Limited note the recent press speculation regarding the potential merger of Cairn India Limited ("CIL") and Vedanta Limited.

Vedanta is committed to maintaining its premium listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Vedanta will make appropriate disclosures as and when required.

Regulatory Considerations

Should a transaction with CIL proceed, it could potentially be considered a reverse takeover, under Listing Rule L.R. 5.6.4 (1). In addition, in line with the Group's stated strategy to continue to simplify the Group structure, the Group continues to evaluate a transaction with the Government of India ("GoI") in relation to their minority stakes in Hindustan Zinc Limited ("HZL") and Bharat Aluminium Company ("BALCO").

If any of these transactions were to occur, they will in aggregate, as well as potentially the individual transactions between Vedanta Limited and each of HZL and Cairn India on a standalone basis, be considered reverse takeovers, under Listing Rule L.R. 5.6.4 (1).

Since Vedanta currently discloses detailed financial as well as operational information on each of Cairn India and HZL, as well as certain financial and operational information on BALCO, in its Annual Reports and periodic reporting (see references below), the directors of Vedanta consider that the publicly available information, specifically the publicly available information referenced in this announcement, contains sufficient information about the businesses to be potentially acquired, to provide a properly informed basis for assessing its financial position.

Detailed financial and non-financial, operational information on each of Cairn India and HZL covering the last three years can be found in the Vedanta plc 2015 Full Year results press release and results presentation as well as in the 2014 and 2013 Annual Reports. For 2015, detailed financial and non-financial, operational information can be found in the Full Year results press release on pages 24-26 (Cairn India) and pages 26-28 (HZL). For 2014 and 2013, detailed financial information can be found in the 2014 Annual Report, on pages 40-47, 143-144 and 199-201 with detailed non-financial, operational information on pages 55-57 (Cairn India) and pages 49-51 (HZL). For 2013 and 2012, the same level of detailed financial information can be found in the 2013 Annual Report, on pages 40-49, 131-134 and 186-188 with detailed non-financial, operational information on pages 54-57 (Cairn India) and pages 50-53 (HZL) of the 2013 Annual Report. Further, a Five Year historical financial and operational summary for each of the Group, Cairn India, and HZL can be found on pages 200-206 of the 2014 Annual Report.

For BALCO, certain financial information can be found in the 2014 Annual Report, on pages 48, 70-71 and 74, with operational information available on pages 70-11 and 300. Additionally, annual financial and operational information on BALCO can be found in the FY2015 results presentation on pages 26, 31, 33 and 34, the FY2014 results presentation on pages 33-35, 38 and 42 and the FY2013 Annual Results presentation on pages 31-34, 37 and 41.

The Vedanta plc Annual Reports and results referenced above can be found at: www.vedantaresources.com/investor-relations/results-and-reports/annual-interim-reports.aspx. The Vedanta plc 2014 Annual Report can be found at www.vedantaresources.com/media/164998/VedantaAR2014.pdf and the 2013 Annual Report can be found at www.vedantaresources.com/media/126374/vedantafy2013ar.pdf. The Vedanta plc FY 2015 Preliminary Results presentation can be found at http://www.vedantaresources.com/media/174626/ved_fy2015_results_presentation_-_final.pdf and the press release at http://www.vedantaresources.com/media/174623/prelim___14_may_fy15.pdf. The FY2014 and FY2013 results presentations can be found at www.vedantaresources.com/media/163209/2014-05-15_VED_FY2014_Prelims_Presentation_Final_Website.pdf and www.vedantaresources.com/media/76572/vedantafy2013preliminaryresultspresentation.pdf.

Pursuant to L.R. 5.6.5 (1), L.R. 5.6.5 (2) and (3) respectively, the Group confirms that if the transactions were to occur, it will not change the strategic direction or the nature of the Group's business, the Group's business will not be part of a different industry sector following completion of the transactions and the Group's business will not deal with fundamentally different suppliers and end-users as a result of the transactions. There will be no change in board or voting control of Vedanta as a result of the transactions, if occurred.

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About Vedanta Resources

Vedanta Resources Plc ("Vedanta") is a London-listed diversified global resources company. The group produces aluminium, copper, zinc, lead, silver, iron ore, oil & gas and commercial energy. Vedanta has operations in India, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Ireland, Liberia, Australia and Sri Lanka. With an empowered talent pool 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, please visit www.vedantaresources.com. 

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.