Govt held several roadshows for stake sale in Hindustan Zinc: Mines secy

The government has conducted several roadshows in the last 15 days in financial capitals like Mumbai, London, Boston and New York to assess the market and meet investors for sale of its stake in Vedanta Group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd.

The government, which owns 29.5 per cent in the company, is the largest minority shareholder in Hindustan Zinc.

"The roadshow is about the disinvestment process. So, the government is committed to disinvestment of some of its stake in Hindustan Zinc Ltd and in that to assess the market and meet investors and all that several roadshows have happened in the last fifteen days.

"They have happened in Bombay, Singapore, Hongkong, London, Boston, New York. So in all the majors financial capitals the roadshows have happened," Mines Secretary V L Kantha Rao said on the sidelines of a training-cum-workshop on the UNESCO Global Geoparks and Geoparks in India.

The government had earlier said that it is committed to offloading its stake in Hindustan Zinc through an offer for sale (OFS) and will take the decision on this after testing the market.

When asked about the percentage of stakes to be sold and the timeline, the secretary said, "Let the roadshows be completed and then there is a proper mechanism and procedure on taking that decision. There is a committee and...so that committee will take that decision."

The Supreme Court in 2021 allowed the government to disinvest its residual stake in Hindustan Zinc in the open market.

Meanwhile, Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) has held fresh discussions with the government on a proposal to divide the company into two verticals, instead of three proposed earlier, CEO Arun Misra had said on Wednesday.

The company's restructuring plan to create separate entities was put on hold as the government had expressed resistance to the bid.

Misra had said with regard to Hindustan Zinc's demerger, the discussions happened very well with the government.

The Mines Ministry had earlier written to the company, pointing out that any restructuring of business operations would require the ministry's clearance.

Misra had said that he was with the mines secretary recently and both the government and HZL are communicating on this subject which is "big".

The Vedanta group firm has last month said that its board has approved the second interim dividend of Rs 19 per share for the current financial year amounting to Rs 8,028.11 crore.

HZL has reported a 19.4 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,345 crore in April-June quarter of FY25 due to higher EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization).

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,964 crore in the year-ago period.

Income rose to Rs 8,398 crore from Rs 7,564 crore in the year-ago period.

Hindustan Zinc is the world's second-largest integrated zinc producer and the third-largest silver producer.

The company supplies to more than 40 countries and has a share of over 75 per cent of the primary zinc market in India.