Vedanta Resources has been a strong market recently on talk that its $9.6bn deal to buy 51% of Cairn Energy's Indian business would soon be approved by the country's government.
But it appears the decision has been referred by the Indian cabinet to a ministerial panel, with an open ended timeframe. Apparently the cabinet believed there were some complex issues involved and a decision should not be taken in a hurry. One of these issues is whether the deal should be linked to a dispute over royalties with Cairn India's partner, the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. The ministerial panel will now look at the royalty dispute in relation to the Vedanta deal.
News of the possible delay has pushed Cairn Energy 3.9p lower to 465.8p while Vedanta is down 8p at £25.10.
