BENGALURU, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Vedanta Resources, the parent of Indian miner Vedanta Ltd , may sell about $1 billion worth shares in the company to investment firm GQG Partners via block deals, television channel ET Now reported on Wednesday citing sources.
Vedanta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Saddled with $6.4 billion in outstanding debt, including a $4.5 billion payment due by fiscal 2025, Vedanta Resources has been attempting to shore up its finances, including through a recent debt restructuring.
Group Chairman Anil Agarwal has made several bids to trim debt, including an unsuccessful attempt to take the company private in 2020 and plans to split Vedanta into six companies.
GQG Partners had raised its stake in billionaire Gautam Adani-owned Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone in August last year.
(Reporting by Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Shilpi Majumdar) (([email protected]; (+91 9945291420); Reuters Messaging: [email protected])) GQG Partners wins billions from ‘fat margin’ rivals
February 16, 2024 Fund manager GQG Partners is raising billions while its peers are losing money CEO Tim Carver says its competitive pricing protects it from fee pressures GQG’s performance has finally restored the share price above the $2 IPO level GQG Partners chief executive Tim Carver says the fund manager’s willingness to undercut its rivals on fees is paying off as it attracted $US10 billion ($13.4 billion) of funds over the course of 2023.The inflows coupled with a rise in sharemarkets lifted the Fort Lauderdale-based fund manager’s total assets under management by $US32 billion to a record $US120 billion, from $US88 billion a year ago.GQG Partners CEO Tim Carver. GQG said it had already raised a further $US2.9 billion in the first six weeks of the year as it is now among the top 10 mutual fund groups in the United States. That is in complete contrast to other ASX-listed equity fund manager peers Magellan, Platinum and Perpetual which described the fourth quarter as the worst for raising of funds in 15 years.Mr Carver said GQG’s “attractive fees relative to our competition” insulated the firm from fee pressures as institutions shifted more mandates from higher cost active managers to low-cost passive and index tracking mandates. GQG’s weighted average management fee of 48.8 basis points compares to 70 basis points at Magellan, and 112 basis points at Platinum.“As a result, we may be less likely to face margin pressure in the future relative to peers with higher average management fees,” Mr Carver said.Mr Carver told analysts that GQG’s advantage was that its competitors were founded at a time when “prevailing fees were much higher”.“ Many of our competitors ended up with headcounts that are several-fold the number of staff that we employ, and they did that because they had very fat margins.“This was a strategic approach that we took when we started this business – that we’re going to be very aggressive in pricing, and manage our expenses accordingly so that we can create this competitive advantage.”Mr Carver said GQG’s funds had delivered “exceptional performance” with all strategies delivering above their benchmarks over three and five years, while the core funds ranked in the top-decile among peers.GQG Partners was founded by star fund manager Rajiv Jain and listed on the ASX in October 2021 at $2 a share. But initial investors in the float have been underwater since then, as investors lost faith in the asset management sector.However, GQG’s share price earlier this month finally recaptured the $2 level. On Friday, the shares traded 7 per cent higher at $2.28 and have gained about 25 per cent so far this year.The money manager reported net revenue growth of 18.5 per cent to $US517.6 million during 2023, while net operating income increased 15.7 per cent to $US384.4 million.
GQG Price at posting:
$2.20 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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