Notwithstanding the criticism of minority shareholders of Cairn India getting a raw deal, billionaire Anil Agarwal today ruled out his debt-ridden mining firm Vedanta Ltd raising the offer to absorb the cash-rich oil firm.
Minority shareholders of Cairn, who have seen share prices almost halve to ₹170-180 in the past one year on back of the company cutting exploration expense and falling oil prices, have criticised the offer of one Vedanta Ltd share and one 7.5 per cent preference share in Vedanta Ltd for every share they hold.
“This is a matter of detail. I think people are dealing with it. We have given the best of offer,” Agarwal told reporters after meeting Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan here.
He was asked if Vedanta will raise the offer in view of minority shareholders not being happy with the offer. “I think everybody is happy. We have done it with best of intentions,” he said.
Agarwal, who had yesterday met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, today explained the rationale of the deal to Pradhan.
The merger needs approval of at least half of the minority shareholders. State-owned Life Insurance Corp of India (LIC) holds 9.06 per cent stake in Cairn India, second only to 9.82 per cent of UK’s Cairn Energy Plc, which had in 2011 sold majority stake in Cairn India to Vedanta for $8.67 billion.
Agarwal needs approval of both LIC and Cairn Energy to get his proposal through.
“We are going to everybody,” he said on being asked if Vedanta is approaching minority shareholders to convince them about the deal.