HZL to persuade Centre on global zinc assets deal

Hindustan Zinc Ltd has solid grounds for its planned acquisition of parent Vedanta Ltd's global zinc assets, chief executive officer Arun Misra said, adding he will speak to government officials soon to resolve their opposition to the deal.

- Mihir Mishra & Gulveen Aulakh

According to the Union mines ministry, the HZL board's January decision to acquire these assets violates minority shareholder rights. Vedanta owns a 64.9% stake in HZL and the government of India 29.5%.

"What is the strategic content? The purpose (of this deal) is undoubted and indisputable. The mechanism can be the problem. So, it is the mechanism we are talking about, and we will see the mechanism," Misra said in an interview. Misra said that he had not discussed the issue with government officials yet, but would do so soon. "It is a timing issue - the government wants to divest the rest of its stake in the company, and we want to expand... We need to figure it out after I speak to them directly," he added.

Being a related-party transaction, the proposal needs majority approval from minority shareholders, including the government, whose shareholding is classified as public shareholding.