London-listed Vedanta Resources is set to miss the October 30 deadline for seeking shareholders' nod for its USD 9.6 billion buyout of Cairn India,apparently due to regulatory hurdles. The deal is conditional upon Cairn Energy Plc (which is selling a majority stake in its Indian arm) and Vedanta Resources securing shareholders' approval on or before October 30. Furthermore,Vedanta Group has to complete an Indian open offer to minority shareholders of Cairn India. While shareholders of Cairn Energy approved the sale of a 40 to 51 per cent stake in Cairn India to Vedanta on October 7,Vedanta has so far not secured the nod of the UK Listing Authority for convening an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders,sources in-the-know of the development said. Once the UK Listing Authority gives its consent,Vedanta will publish a notice convening a shareholders' meeting within 21 days from that date. A company spokesperson did not immediately respond to queries seeking comment on the issue. Sources said Vedanta Group firm Sesa Goa's offer for buying up to a 20 per cent stake in Cairn India from minority shareholders,too,could not open on the scheduled date of October 11 due to delays in getting market regulator SEBI's nod. SEBI apparently withheld approval for the open offer after the Oil Ministry wrote to it saying Cairn Energy needs government approval before it can transfer a controlling stake in key assets like the giant Rajasthan oilfields to Vedanta. While Cairn Energy is in the process of seeking the government's nod,state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC),which partners the company in Rajasthan and several of its other 10 properties in India,has also asserted its preemption rights and wants the Edinburgh-based firm to seek its explicit nod before selling a stake in its Indian subsidiary. The Sale Agreement between Cairn Energy and Vedanta will lapse if conditions like shareholders' approval,completion of an open offer and government approval are not satisfied or waived on or before April 15,2011,sources said. Sources said Vedanta may also be going slow on tying up funds for the deal,given that the process of getting approvals has been delayed. Vedanta is to raise USD 6 billion for buying a controlling stake in Cairn India. Vedanta Resources,controlled by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal,and oil explorer Cairn Energy announced on August 16 that Vedanta would buy up to a 60 per cent stake in Cairn India for as much as USD 9.6 billion. Cairn Energy owns 62.38 per cent of Cairn India.
