Four companies carved out of billionaire Anil Agarwal's commodities empire will list simultaneously on Monday, testing investor appetite for a restructured conglomerate aiming to capitalise on an
anticipated supercycle for resources. The rare market event comes as Vedanta Ltd's aluminium, power, oil and gas and steel and iron are scheduled to begin trading separately. Vedanta Ltd will stay listed and house the group's base metals business, including its stake in Hindustan Zinc. Those making their debut will be Vedanta Aluminium Metal, Vedanta Power, Vedanta Oil & Gas and Vedanta Iron & SteelThe aluminium unit is likely to attract the most investor attention as it benefits from market leadership in terms of production capacity and costs.Investors got one share in each of the four new entities for each held in Vedanta Ltd in one of India's largest corporate restructuring exercises, which has taken place nearly three years after it was first announced. The demerger was aimed at simplifying corporate structure, while unlocking value, as each of them became pure-play businesses. We expect it to be a value-unlocking event for the company with its high-growth aluminium and power businesses expected to fetch better valuations compared to the current structure of being part of a listed conglomerate entity, ICICI Securities said in a recent report.The listing pop is expected to be the highest for the aluminium business, followed by Vedanta Ltd, the oil and gas unit, and the power division, experts said.The iron and steel business is likely to see little favour with investors as larger and more focused players make for a stronger investment case, they said.The demerger is also aimed at allowing each of the businesses to access capital more freely, but analysts said earnings and debt would remain a key monitorable. 131671519 Reducing the cost trajectory and capacity expansion in the key businesses should drive earnings, CLSA India said recently. While debt has dropped at London-based parent Vedanta Resources Ltd, it has increased at India-listed unit Vedanta Ltd, the brokerage said. If the ongoing projects get commissioned on time, debt levels are unlikely to be a concern, it said. Investec analysts had advised investors to stick with the company through the demerger process, given that value crystallisation in the business was increasingly visible, with no deterioration in underlying operations.While the aluminium business will carry the maximum debt, it’s also expected to generate the most earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, making its net debt to ebitda ratio around 1.3 times, lower than that of the power unit.Debt, DividendsWhile the net debt to ebitda ratio at Vedanta Power will be the highest at nearly five times, most of it is structural and long-term with state-owned power financing companies, with debt maturities of seven to 10 years, senior management said after quarterly earnings. Vedanta, known for its generous dividends, will be changing its policy on this.“Right now, there is a requirement to pay at least 30% profit as dividend. Going forward, the board will have the flexibility; they can pay 30% or the amount as they deem fit in future,” chief financial officer Ajay Goel had said during the earnings call.