Anil Agarwal (born 1954) is the founder and Chairman of Vedanta Resources Limited.[2][3] He controls Vedanta Resources through Volcan Investments, a holding vehicle with a 100% stake in the business
In the mid-1970s, he began trading in scrap metal, collecting it from cable companies in other states and selling it in Mumbai.[11] In 1976, Anil Agarwal acquired Shamsher Sterling Corporation, a manufacturer of enameled copper, among other products, with a bank loan. For the next 10 years, he ran both businesses. In 1986, he set up a factory to manufacture jelly-filled cables, creating Sterlite Industries. He soon realized that the profitability of his business was volatile, fluctuating with the prices of his raw materials: copper and aluminium. So he decided to control his input costs by manufacturing the metals instead of buying them.[12]
In 1993, Sterlite Industries became the first private sector company in India to set up a copper smelter and refinery.[13] In 1995, Sterlite Industries acquired Madras Aluminium, a 'sick' company that had been shut down for 4 years and held by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).[14] The next step of the backward integration process seemed natural: mining.
His first opportunity came when the government announced a disinvestment program. In 2001, he acquired 51 percent in Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO), a public sector undertaking; in the very next year, he acquired a majority stake (nearly 65 per cent) in state-run HZL(Hindustan Zinc Limited). Both the companies were considered sleepy and inefficient mining firms.[15]
To access international capital markets, Anil Agarwal and his team incorporated Vedanta Resources Plc in 2003 in London. At the time of its listing, Vedanta Resources Plc, was the first Indian firm to be listed on London Stock Exchange, on 10 December 2003,[16] Vedanta Resources became the parent company of the group through a process of internal restructuring of group companies and their shareholding.
In 2004 Vedanta Resources Plc announced a global bond offering[17] and acquired Konkola Copper Mines in Zambia, Africa.[18] In 2007, Vedanta Resources acquired a controlling stake in Sesa Goa Limited, India's largest producer-exporter of iron ore,[19] and in 2010, the company acquired South African miner Anglo American's portfolio of zinc assets in Namibia, Ireland and South Africa.[20] The next year, Vedanta Resources acquired controlling stake in Cairn India, India's largest private sector oil-producing firm.[21] The merger of Sesa Goa and Sterlite Industries was announced in 2012, as part of the Vedanta Group's consolidation.[22]
Vedanta Resources, headquartered in London, is a globally diversified natural resources conglomerate, with interests in zinc, lead, silver, copper, iron ore, aluminium, power generation, and oil and gas.[23] The greatest share of its assets, however, is in India; Agarwal lives in London.
In October 2017, it was announced that Agrawal's Volcan Holdings Plc had taken a 19% stake in mining company Anglo American, making him biggest shareholder of the company.[24]
