Vedanta delists from UK bourse amid protests

Volcan Investments Ltd, controlled by Agarwal as Executive Chairman, had announced a successful buyout of the company’s shares last month. “Vedanta confirms that the listing of Vedanta Shares on the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and the trading of Vedanta Shares on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange has been cancelled with effect from 8.00 am today (Monday),” Vedanta Resources said in a statement. The move came as a group of around 50-60 protesters, coordinated by grassroots organisations Foil Vedanta and Anti Sterlite People’s Movement, gathered outside the company’s final meeting in London to demand justice for the 13 protesters who died at Vedanta’s copper smelter in Tamil Nadu in May.

Agarwal has previously stated that the buy-out of the London listing was intended to simplify the company’s structure and claimed that the liquidity of Indian markets meant that the need for a separate London listing was no longer critical. In a video message after the deaths in Thoothukudi, he had described the incident as “absolutely unfortunate.”