A promoter entity of Vedanta Ltd on Thursday sold nearly 1.8 per cent stake through the open market for over Rs 1,737 crore.

Bulk deal data available from the BSE showed Finsider International Company Ltd offloading 6.5 crore shares at Rs 265.14 apiece. Details of the buyer were not available.

Finsider held 16.3 crore shares or 4.40 per cent of the company at the end of December. The total promoters holding during this period stood at 63.71 per cent.

The large deal led to the shares of Vedanta falling 4.01 per cent on the BSE to Rs 268. The scrip settled at Rs 268 on the NSE, a fall of 4.17 per cent or Rs 11.65 over the last close. The company now has a market cap of almost Rs 99,621 crore.

It is learnt that proceeds from the sale could be used by the promoters to pare debt.

Though the stock exchange data did not disclose the identity of the buyer, there have been speculation that GQG Capital Partners which shot into the spotlight last year for its investment in the Adani group was eyeing a stake in Vedanta.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2023, Vedanta Ltd had a gross debt of Rs 75,230 crore and net debt of Rs 62,493 crore after cash and cash equivalents of Rs 12,734 crore.

Last week, parent Vedanta Resources Ltd (VRL) said it has made an upfront payment of $779 million to its bondholders and completed repayments as part of the debt restructuring exercise.

VRL had disclosed that it completed repayments to its bondholders on February 7 in line with the consents it received earlier in the year in which maturities of $3.2 billion in bonds were successfully extended to 2029. It had also paid a consent fee of $68 million to the bondholders who had agreed to the restructuring.

The company in January received consent from bondholders to restructure four series of bonds to ease its debt burden.