Cabinet gives final nod to Vedanta acquisition of Cairn stake
The Union Cabinet today gave final approval to London-based mining group Vedanta Resources Plc's acquisition of a majority stake in Cairn India Ltd for USD 8.48 billion.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cleared the deal this evening, highly placed sources said.
Fresh approval was necessitated in view of the Home Ministry pointing to alleged global and domestic "transgressions" by Vedanta Group.
While giving security clearance to Vedanta's purchase of a majority stake in Cairn India, the Home Ministry had on November 25 pointed to eight instances of the mining group or its affiliates being involved in cases of default of payment, human rights violations or environmental damage.
Sources said the Oil Ministry approached the CCEA "to bring on record" the transgressions pointed out by the Home Ministry.
The material provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs has no bearing whatsoever on the security aspects, the Oil Ministry had stated. Sources said the CCEA concurred with this view.
The planned sale of a 40 per cent stake held by Cairn Energy Plc in Cairn India Ltd to Vedanta was first considered by the CCEA in April last year and approved in June, 2011, with certain preconditions.
Cairn and Vedanta complied with all the preconditions and concluded the transaction last month.
The Oil Ministry's CCEA note points out that all approvals and pre-conditions for the share transfer have been achieved, with the last one from state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) on December 1.
ONGC, which holds a stake in eight out of the 10 properties of Cairn India, conveyed its "no-objection" to the deal after Cairn agreed to include royalty payment in Rajasthan oil block as "a cost-recoverable item since commencement of production" and to pay the cess "in proportion to their respective participating holdings".
Cost-recovery of royalty and cess payments were among the preconditions that the government had set for giving clearance to the transaction.
