Cairn Energy Plc's deal to sell a majority stake in its Indian arm to Vedanta Resources for up to $8.48 billion is contingent upon the billionaire Anil Agarwal-led group completing an open offer to minority shareholders of Cairn India, a senior official said.
Contrary to reports, oil PSUs will not make a counter bid to Vedanta Resources' $9.6 billion offer to buy Cairn India, as the oil ministry is disinclined to a rival bid.
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.
Vedanta Resources, a global metal and mining company led by Non-Resident Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, is looking to rationalise its workforce and reduce overall costs by 30 per cent to tide over the global economic downturn.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in public sector refiners, expanding the scope for FDI in the privatisation of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). The approval by the Cabinet will enable the sale of the government's 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL to a foreign buyer, and, at the same time, will open the door for FDI in other public sector companies in the oil sector put up for privatisation.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India on Tuesday approved the open offer of Vedanta Resources for Sesa Goa.
This comes at a time when the group's copper plant in Tamil Nadu remains shut for nearly three years, causing a Rs 5 crore loss every day.
The shareholders will also get one redeemable preference share in Vedanta Ltd
The Vedanta group on Wednesday confirmed putting in a preliminary expression of interest (EoI) for buying the government's stake in Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL).
The government of Odisha is likely to appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision by the central government in New Delhi to halt the bauxite mining project being undertaken by Vedanta Resources in the Niyamgiri area of the state.
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The Union government's offer of settling the retrospective taxation case with Cairn Energy may hinge on Vedanta withdrawing the ongoing arbitration from the Singapore Tribunal on the same issue. The government has offered to refund Cairn Energy Rs 7,900 crore that it had collected under the retrospective tax demand on fulfilment of certain conditions, including withdrawal of pending litigation and furnishing of an undertaking to the effect that no claim for cost, damages, interest, etc., would be filed. This condition is also part of the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, passed by Parliament recently.
India-focused mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources reported 49 per cent growth in its core profits to $2.562 billion for the half year ended September 30, 2012, buoyed by earnings from subsidiary Cairn India.
The Delhi high court on Friday reserve its order on a Public Interest Litigation alleging that the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party received funding from subsidiaries of United Kingdom-based Vedanta Resources in violation of various Indian laws.
The government, which currently holds 29.5 per cent stake in HZL and 49 per cent stake in Balco, is looking at exiting from the two firms in which Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group holds majority stake.
A series of controversies has dogged its copper plant in Tuticorin. But the company denies all allegations.
VAL, a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources, has about 550 employees. It closed down the 1-million-tonne per year refinery exactly two weeks ago due to a shortage of bauxite, the key raw material used to produce alumina.
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Several leading industrialists, including Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani, Vedanta Resources Limited executive chairman Anil Agarwal, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons Ratan Tata, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra, Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Welspun Group chairman and Assocham president B K Goenka, attended the swearing-in ceremony.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices on a public interest suit challenging the role of the central government and state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation in the deal between Cairn India and Vedanta Resources.
Agarwal submitted the express of interest through his family investment arm Volcan Investments before the close of the bid process on Saturday afternoon.
UK-based Diageo's acquisition of 53.4 per cent stake in Vijay Mallya-led United Spirits for Rs 11,166.5 crore ($2 billion) could be the biggest inbound M&A deal so far this year.
Vedanta has acquired 58.5 per cent in Cairn India for a total consideration of $8.67 billion, the third-largest acquisition ever by an Indian enterprise globally.
The Home Ministry, while giving the security no-objection certificate (NOC), highlighted eight areas of concern, including 64 legal proceedings against Vedanta and its subsidiaries in various courts, sources privy to the development said.
Posco is among several corporations, including Vedanta Resources, to come under scrutiny from Ramesh, putting his ministry in a perceived open conflict with the corporate sector.
Net profit in 2012 was $72.6 million, compared with $4.56 billion profit in 2011, Cairn said in a statement.
In a setback to the Cairn-Vedanta deal, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium has reaffirmed that the government can impose preconditions like equitable sharing of royalty in the all-important Rajasthan block for clearing Vedanta Resources' takeover of Cairn India.
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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.
The board of Cairn India has on two occasions rejected oil ministry conditions that royalties paid by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation on its all important Rajasthan oilfields, be cost recoverable from oil sales saying this was against contractual provisions and not in the interest of the company and its shareholders.
The announcement came just ahead of the meeting of a ministerial panel, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, to look into the Cairn-Vedanta deal which was struck in August.
A Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukhejree is likely to meet on Monday to vet London-listed mining group Vedanta Resources' $ 9.6 billion acquisition of Cairn India.
A CCEA meeting is scheduled for tomorrow but the approval for the Cairn-Vedanta deal is not listed on its agenda so far.
Government wants Cairn India to agree to pay royalty and cess on its all important Rajasthan block.
On November 23, Cairn India, made conditional applications, which have come in for questioning following a Delhi high court ruling.
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.
Oil ministry will move Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs once comments from ministries of finance, law, home, environment and corporate affairs are received.
The government will reserve the right to decide on the cost recoverability of royalty from Cairn India's block in Barmer while clearing Cairn Energy's sale of its Indian subsidiary to Vedanta Resources.
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