Indonesia says US must invest as critical minerals race picks up
Indonesia is in the market for a wide-ranging critical minerals pact to boost its economy as the US-China rivalry intensifies.
Representatives of Vedanta Resources Ltd. are traveling to Singapore and Hong Kong to meet bondholders, as the junk-rated Indian miner faces repayment of about $2 billion of notes next year.
The non-deal roadshow is being organized by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Standard Chartered Plc, a spokesperson for Vedanta said on Thursday, confirming a report by Bloomberg.
The global increase in borrowing costs has raised the stakes for billionaire Anil Agarwal’s firm, which must redeem a record amount of bonds next year. Several of the group’s bonds are trading below 75 cents on the dollar, at levels considered indicative of distress. S&P Global Ratings lowered its outlook on Vedanta’s B- rating to negative from stable, citing challenging financing conditions.
The meetings would take place as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter said, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. JP Morgan and Standard Chartered declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg about the non-deal roadshow.
The mining company has already started an exercise to identify investors in its dollar bonds that mature next January and August, as well as those due in March 2025.
Vedanta’s January 2024 note was indicated at 88 cents on the dollar on Thursday, according to Bloomberg-compiled data, while that due in August 2024 was quoted at 63 cents. That suggests investors are more concerned about repayment of the longer-dated debt.
(By Saikat Das, Divya Patil and Swansy Afonso)
Comments