ONGC, which partners Cairn India in its crown jewel oilfields in Rajasthan and seven other properties in India, has waived its preemption rights over the deal and given a no-objection certificate, sources privy to the development said.
Vedanta may become a majority stakeholder in Cairn India.
More than three weeks after it announced the sale of a majority stake in its Indian arm to Vedanta Resources, UK's Cairn Energy Plc has formally applied to the government for approvals, saying it will meet all contractual requirements needed to fructify the deal.
ONGC, which is a 30 per cent partner with Cairn India in the giant Rajasthan oil field, had claimed that it had preemption or right of first refusal in Cairn India assets, like the Rajasthan block.
The Finance Ministry on Monday said Cairn Energy Plc is likely to pay close to $1 billion as capital gains tax on the $8.48 billion it expects to get from selling majority stake in its India arm to Vedanta Resources.
Cairn Energy Plc chief executive Bill Gammell described the 30-minute meeting as 'positive and constructive'.
British energy firm Cairn Energy Plc on Thursday said it will pay all taxes due, both in India and the United Kingdom, on the $8.48 billion it will gain from selling a majority stake in its Indian arm to Vedanta Resources.
NRI billionaire Anil Agrawal-led Vedanta Group on Tuesday said its open offer for 20 per cent stake in Cairn India will begin on October 11, as part of its $9.6 billion takeover deal of the country's fourth largest oil explorer.
Billionaire Anil Agarwal-owned mining firm Vedanta Resources on Thursday said it is in talks to buy a stake in Cairn India, the company that owns the nation's largest onland oilfield.
While UK's Vodafone Group fights its tax liability in courts, British firm Cairn Energy Plc on Wednesday said it will pay all taxes due, both in India and the United Kingdom, on the $8.48 billion sale of a majority stake in its Indian arm to Vedanta Resources.
The shareholders will also get one redeemable preference share in Vedanta Ltd
There are no guesses on how many times the group of ministers will meet before any clarity emerges on the $9.6-billion deal.
The UK-based Cairn Energy on Monday said it will sell 51 per cent stake in its Indian unit to mining firm Vedanta Resources Plc for $8.48 billion.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has set aside capital markets regulator Sebi's order that imposed a penalty of Rs 5.25 crore on Cairn India for making a misleading announcement regarding buyback of shares in 2014. Cairn India, which was merged with Vedanta Ltd in 2017, was accused of making a misleading public announcement designed to influence investors' decisions. "We hold that the violations of provisions of... the Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices (PFUTP) Regulations and... the Buyback Regulations are not proved against the company (Vedanta)," a bench consisting of Justice Tarun Agarwala and presiding officer Meera Swarup said.
Mining magnate Anil Agarwal's conglomerate on Friday announced a major business shake-up, with flagship Vedanta Ltd approving a spin-off of its metals, power, aluminium and oil and gas businesses into separate listed entities and an overhaul of lucrative zinc unit planned as part of value creation and reducing debt load. Vedanta will issue one share of the five demerged businesses for every share held in the company, the firm said in a statement. The entire exercise, which would require shareholder and lender approval as well as a nod from the stock exchanges and courts, is expected to be completed in 12-15 months, its president for finance Ajay Agarwal said.
Company will also launch a global road show from May 23 for the bond placement.
Billionaire Anil Agarwal's mining group Vedanta on Monday said it has withdrawn cases in the Delhi high court as well as before an international arbitration tribunal to settle a Rs 20,495 crore retrospective tax dispute with the government. Post slapping of a Rs 10,247 crore tax demand on UK's Cairn Energy Plc for alleged capital gains made on a 2016 internal reorganisation prior to the listing of its India business, the Income Tax Department had sought Rs 20,495 crore in taxes (including penalty) from Cairn India for failing to deduct tax on capital gains made by its British parent. Cairn India was in 2011 bought by Agarwal's group and subsequently, the firm was merged with Vedanta Ltd.
If the waxy crude oil from Cairn's Mangala field in Rajasthan's Barmer area could get the company such high valuations, the prospects of other companies producing higher-grade crude oil or natural gas certainly brighten.
Indian lenders are unlikely to clear the vertical split of BSE-listed Vedanta Ltd in a hurry, considering that the demerger would reduce the fungibility of cash flows across businesses and increase their volatility, according to analysts. The demerger plan, which would result in six separate listed entities, would require approval from shareholders, lenders and other statutory bodies. "We believe that a separate listing of different businesses would reduce the fungibility of cash flows across businesses and increase the volatility of cash flows.
The way the government treated miner Vedanta Resources' proposal to buy majority of UK's Cairn Energy in Cairn India and RIL selling 30 per cent of its stake in 23 properties, including the prolific KG-D6 gas block to BP, goes to the heart of the mistrust between India Inc and United Progressive Alliance-2 in 2011.
Debt management is going to be a worry for the Vedanta group until FY25 at least. However, the restructuring of business divisions in Vedanta India could lead to an unlocking of values. The group structure is fairly complex. Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources (VRL), which is London-listed, has a lot of debt on the balance sheet. It will have to repay $1 billion in secured bonds by January 2024 and at least another $300 million in calendar 2024.
All in all, Cairn India shareholders are getting a 9.1 per cent premium based on closing prices of July 22
Cairn Energy, which owns a 52.11 per cent stake in Cairn India, "has voted to accept (government) conditions", the company said.
Brokerages put sell notice on Vedanta shares over the company's move to buy Volcan Investments' stake in Anglo American via subsidiary Cairn India Holdings, reports Aditi Divekar.
Vedanta group chairman, Anil Agarwal, 69, is well known for his business journey from a scrap dealer from Bihar to a London-based globe-girdling metal and oil and gas conglomerate with revenues of $19 billion. Now his abilities to keep his group from over-leveraging itself will be put to the test. Over the years, Agarwal, now based in London, set up the conglomerate via acquiring iron ore producer Sesa Goa, Cairn's oil producing assets in India, and Electrosteel Steel.
While Vedanta Aluminium, Balco and Cairn India confirmed the job cuts, sources said Sesa Goa too had slashed jobs.
UK's Cairn Energy has informed Oil Ministry that it will comply with all contractual obligations in selling majority stake in its Indian arm and that London-listed Vedanta Resources was a fit candidate to take over operations.
Vedanta had proposed to buy a 51 per cent stake in Cairn India for $9.6 billion in the middle of last year. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs is expected to take up the issue next week.
Anil Agarwal, chairman of the Vedanta group, has not started the New Year on a good note.
The Indian State does not believe in the rule of law. It does not even recognise the need to follow treaties that it itself signed. And so it is refusing to shell out to Cairn; and, as a consequence, has brought on the Paris humiliation, notes Mihir S Sharma.
The levy of retrospective tax on the UK's Cairn Energy Plc is a tale of bizarre twists and turns that saw its attached shares being sold in May 2018 amid the passing of the baton from a full-time finance minister to interim one and the talks at the highest level to resolve the dispute, to claims that levy of back taxes was a result of an investigation into Panama Papers leak. The government late last month refunded about Rs 7,900 crore it had collected from selling residual shares of the British firm in its erstwhile India unit, seizing dividend and withholding tax refunds, to settle an eight-year-old dispute that had tarred the country's reputation as an investment destination. But, this did not come about easily. For seven years, the establishment vehemently justified in courts and outside seeking of Rs 10,247 crore in back taxes plus interest and penalty from a firm that gave India its biggest onshore oil discovery.
Delay in approvals and bureaucratic stonewalling create hurdles; experts fear return of licence raj.
Britain's Cairn Energy Plc has dropped lawsuits against the Indian government and its entities in the US and other places and is in the final stages of withdrawing cases in Paris and the Netherlands to get back about Rs 7,900 crore that were collected from it to enforce a retrospective tax demand. As part of the settlement reached with the government to the seven-year old dispute over levy of back taxes, the company - which is now known as Capricorn Energy PLC - has initiated proceedings to withdraw lawsuits it had filed in several jurisdictions to enforce an international arbitration award which had overturned levy of Rs 10,247 crore retrospective taxes and ordered India to refund the money already collected. Two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said Cairn on November 26 withdrew the lawsuit it had brought in Mauritius for recognition of the arbitration award and took similar measures in courts in Singapore, the UK and Canada.
New regime less harsh than the draft guidelines, has a host of exemptions.
A senior company executive said the company waited for seven years for the verdict and its shareholders needed to know when it would be concluded.
Cairn has slashed its planned capital expenditure (capex) by 60 per cent to $500 million against the earlier $1.2 billion.
There will be capital gains tax of 20 per cent with indexation.
The government has told Cairn Energy that its deal with Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta Resources will go through only after a formal proposal to the government is made and all clearances are obtained.
Whereas, the group is offering Cairn India's parent Cairn Energy Rs 405 a share, which includes a fee for not competing with it in India, Sri Lanka and Bhutan for the next three years.
Markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday imposed a penalty of Rs 5.25 crore on Cairn India for making a misleading announcement regarding the buyback of shares in 2014. In addition, the regulator levied a fine of Rs 15 lakh each on P Elango, who was the CEO and director of Cairn, Aman Mehta, who was the director on the company's board, and Neerja Sharma, who was director (risk assurance) and company secretary, Sebi said in an order. These three officials had signed the public advertisement regarding the buyback in January 2014 and facilitated the company in making the misleading announcement.
