The Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd will sell Zinc International’s assets to Hindustan Zinc, a Vedanta subsidiary, for a cash consideration of $2,981 million.

According to stock market notification, the sale of Zinc International assets held by THL Zinc Ventures Ltd (Mauritius) – another wholly owned subsidiary of Vedanta, through THL Zinc Ltd (Mauritius) - was approved by the board on Thursday.

Post the sale, THL Zinc Ltd will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hindustan Zinc.

The cash consideration shall be done in a phase-wise manner, subject to agreed milestones. The transaction is expected to be completed over the next 18 months, post obtaining regulatory clearances.

Zinc assets of THL Zinc comprise of Black Mountain Mining (Pty) Ltd, located at Aggeneys, a mining town in South Africa. It mines zinc, lead, silver and copper. It also includes Skorpion Zinc (Pty) Ltd and Skorpion Mining Company (Pty) Ltd, Namibia. Skorpion Zinc operates a refinery for zinc production.

“The zinc assets have 35 mt reserve & resource (metal) in the ground with 30 years life of mine. This investment is an attractive opportunity for Hindustan Zinc to grow and increase its foothold overseas and take its brand globally. With the zinc assets, Hindustan Zinc will have the combined reserves & resources of 1000 plus million tonne of ore and 65 plus mt of metal across India and Africa,” Hindustan Zinc said in a regulatory filing.

It stands to benefit from new technologies and know-how and improve recovery. “The investment in zinc assets is expected to earn significantly higher returns compared to the current treasury returns,” the company said adding that this “transaction will improve overall synergies between the businesses, market share gains as well as geographical diversification to a mineral-rich African continent”.

Leadership change

Hindustan Zinc also informed the bourses that its Chairperson and Director, Kiran Agarwal, has stepped down, with effect from January 18; and the nomination and remuneration committee has approved the appointment of Priya Agarwal to the position of Chairman, with immediate effect.

Kiran Agarwal is the wife of Vedanta founder Anil Agarwal, while Priya is the daughter.

“Kiran Agarwal, Chairperson and director of the Company had stepped down from the board w.e.f. January 18, 2023 to pursue Vedanta Group Chairman’s vision to give back 75 per cent of his wealth to the society through his personal foundation,” Hindustan Zinc said in a regulatory filing.

The appointment of Priya Agarwal as an additional director and Chairperson of the company was approved at the Board meeting held on Thursday.

Results

Hindustan Zinc reported a 20 per cent drop in net profit at ₹2,156 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2022. Consolidated net profit in the year-ago-period was ₹2,701 crore.

Consolidated revenue declined by 2.7 per cent to ₹7,628 crore in the quarter under review. It stood at ₹7,841 crore a year ago.

The HZL board also recommended an interim dividend of ₹13 per equity share. The total payout will be ₹5,493 crore.

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