Supreme Court allows Centre to sell remaining Hindustan Zinc stake

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Centre to disinvest its further shareholding in Hindustan Zinc Ltd. (HZL). The top court said that the government can disinvest the remaining 29.5 per cent stake since HZL isn't a government company anymore.

SC bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud has also directed registration of a regular case by CBI into disinvestment of HZL shares during the Vajpayee government. The bench also noted that there is a prima facie case of investigation in view of irregularities in the bidding process, sale of shares.

Hindustan Zinc Limited is an Indian integrated mining and resources producer of zinc, lead, silver and cadmium. It is a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited. On Wednesday, the billionaire Anil Agarwal-led mining company Vedanta Ltd said it is mulling a complete overhaul of its corporate structure, including demerger and listing of the aluminum, iron and steel, and oil and gas businesses as standalone entities to unlock shareholder value.

While the London-based parent will continue to be the holding company of the diversified mining group, Vedanta Ltd and the three businesses will operate parallelly as independent, listed companies, chairman Agarwal told news agency PTI.

The company is evaluating all options, including demergers, spin-offs and strategic partnerships, and is looking at listing its aluminum, iron and steel, and oil and gas verticals as separate entities.

HZL is one of the largest integrated producers of zinc and lead and a leading producer of silver. It has facilities in Rampura Agucha, Chanderiya, Dariba, Kayad and Zawar in Rajasthan, along with zinc-lead processing and refining facilities and a silver refinery at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand.

Shares of HZL on Thursday were trading 0.51 per cent lower intraday at Rs 330.95 apiece on BSE.

With agency inputs

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