Vedanta going private is a sign of base metal cycle bottoming, say experts

After hitting multi-year lows, metal prices have seen some gains. Though lower input costs are supportive, demand is the crucial missing piece

Anil Agarwal is well known for his stupendous rise  — from a small metal scrap dealer in the mid-1970s to executive chairman of Vedanta Resources, which has interests in aluminium, copper, zinc, silver, iron ore, and crude oil through majority stakes in Vedanta Limited and Hindustan Zinc. Over the past 45 years, Agarwal has made at least six acquisitions and scaled up many into cash-generating businesses.

The most successful is the acquisition of a majority stake in Hindustan Zinc in 2002. His acquisition cost of about Rs 1,000 crore is now worth Rs 47,000 crore even in these depressed markets —