Vedanta shareholders back firm post short-seller report

Viceroy Research alleged that Vedanta was being financially drained by its UK-based parent

- Dipali Banka & Nehal Chaliawala

Shareholders reposed confidence in Vedanta Ltd (VEDL) during the company's annual general meeting on Thursday, a day after a short-seller's report called the company a "dying host" for its London-based "parasite" parent Vedanta Resources Ltd (VRL).

The company's shares settled 0.4% lower on the BSE at 438.95 apiece, mirroring the 0.41% fall in the benchmark Sensex.

When one of the shareholders broke ranks to question the company's brand fee payments to VRL, Anil Agarwal, the founder and chairman of the Vedanta Group, chose not to respond. He simply called the short-seller report "motivated," before asking Deshnee Naidoo, the CEO of VRL, who is not on the rolls of VEDL, to answer the question.

Naidoo said that there was no new information in the short-seller report, and that it was based on public information. "The authors have only compiled part information with gross inaccuracy which was discerned by the shareholders in the meeting," she said.

The management will stay focused on Vedanta's upcoming demerger, diversification and deleveraging debt.