Vedanta Rewards Shareholders With Rs 6,580-Crore Dividend Payout
Vedanta announced a second interim dividend for Cairn India and its own shareholders.
Vedanta Ltd. announced a second interim dividend for financial year 2017 as the resource giant rewarded shareholders from its more than Rs 50,000-crore cash pile, as of December-ended quarter.
Anil Agarwal-led company will pay shareholders Rs 6,580 crore in all, nearly half of which will go to its London-based parent Vedanta Resources Plc., according to BloombergQuint’s calculations. Shareholders of its cash-rich oil subsidiary Cairn India Ltd. will also get a slice of the payout after it merges with Vedanta. The deal awaits a final nod from the Reserve Bank of India.
Vedanta’s board approved a dividend of Rs 17.7 per share, the company said in a filing to exchanges. The day of payout to Vedanta shareholders is April 12.
Hindustan Zinc Ltd., 65 percent owned by Vedanta, doled out a record dividend of more than Rs 27,157 crore to its shareholders in the financial year. Vedanta received Rs 7,544 crore of it on Thursday.
Shares of Vedanta rose 1.5 percent to Rs 272 while Cairn India rose 1.3 percent to Rs 301 after the announcement. The Nifty 50 was trading flat at just above the 9,150 mark at that time.
Agarwal recently picked up a 13 percent stake in Anglo American Plc., one of the world’s biggest miners, for nearly $2.5 billion in his personal capacity. The investment is routed via his holding company, Volcan Investments Ltd., which is also the promoter of Vedanta Resources and Hindustan Zinc.