Vedanta names the date for merger vote

Shareholders in the Indian commodities giant, Vedanta Resources, now know when they'll get to vote on the firm' s reorganisation: June 15th.

Vedanta has had a terrible 12 months, dropping 57% as it sought to buy the Indian oil assets of Cairn Energy. a purchase it struggled to afford.

In response to the stock plunge Vedanta is to merge its two subsidiaries, Sesa Goa and Sterlite, to create Sesa Sterlite. The all-share deal, announced back in February, is touted as a way of saving $200m annually.

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In theory the meeting on June 15th will give shareholders the opportunity to scrutinise the structural changes, but given that around two thirds of Vedanta shares are held by the Chairman, Anil Agarwal's family, its seems unthinkable he won't get his way.

In the meantime Vedanta, like all mining stocks dropped sharply yesterday (down 3.2%) as Europe's woes put global growth at risk.

BS