Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Hindustan Zinc Limited third quarter FY 2023 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Jhalak Rastogi, Associate Director, Investor Relations. Thank you. Over to you, Ms. Rastogi.
Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I welcome you all to Hindustan Zinc third quarter and nine months ending 31st December 2022 results briefing. On behalf of Hindustan Zinc, I wish you and your family a very happy new year, 2023. In this call, we refer to Q3 FY 2023 investor presentation available on our company's website. Some of the information on this call may be forward-looking in nature and is covered by the safe harbor language on slide number two of the said presentation. Today on the call we have with us our CEO, Mr. Arun Misra, and our Deputy and Interim CFO, Mr. Sandeep Modi. Mr. Misra will begin with an update on business performance, while Mr. Modi will walk you through financial performance. After which we'll open the floor for questions. I now request Mr. Misra to begin today's call. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Jhalak. A very good evening to all of you. First of all, I would like to wish you and your family a very happy new year, 2023. Thank you for joining us today for the third quarter and nine months of FY 2023 results briefing. This quarter, the key theme and highlight remain sustainability and community at Hindustan Zinc. Mentioning a few of the initiatives during the quarter, Zinc family participated in Run for Zero Hunger Vedanta Delhi and Pink City Half Marathon, rolled out an electric vehicle policy for the employees under EVolving for Good initiative, successfully organized sixth edition of Vedanta Udaipur World Music Festival and hosted India's largest and fourth underground All India Mines Rescue Competition.
Now we are thrilled to enter into the new year and the last quarter of the financial year with great vigor, towering optimism and growing opportunities and fresh targets. Coming to our key priorities on safety front, we are extremely mindful and conscious of the fatalities happened during first half of FY 2023, and the working committee has been regularly identifying critical areas requiring improvement to address parental risk and have been determined to provide support to our people wherever required. This quarter, it gives me satisfaction to report a fatality-free operations. Safety and people are the most important pillar and priority for us at Hindustan Zinc, and it is our commitment and vision to ensure that all our employees return home safely. Zinc safety team continues to drive various projects and initiatives in order to meet our vision of eliminating fatalities and serious injuries.
It is heartening to see the efforts of entire Zinc leadership team justifying. An update on our key priority in ESG. In line with our commitment to net zero by 2050, I am happy to share that we have received board approval to undertake another long-term captive renewable power delivery plan up to a capacity of 250 megawatts for a further investment up to INR 430 crores. I am also delighted to inform you that Hindustan Zinc has secured third place globally and first overall in Asia-Pacific at Standard & Poor's Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment Score in metal and mining sector. We have been recognized as A-minus category in climate change and water security in CDP 2022, a movement upward from last year performance.
In addition, power plants at Bhilwara Smelting Complex and Zawar received Platinum Award at Safety Excellence Awards 2022 in energy efficiency and best practices for industrial water management categories respectively. These recognitions play a significant role in motivating us to march ahead in our ESG journey. Coming to an update on our on-ground CSR activities. It gives me immense pride to inform you that Hindustan Zinc has been felicitated with S&P Global Flagship Award and our seven units have been bestowed with the 26th Bhamashah Award, reflecting our commitment for the remarkable work undertaken in the field of education related community development initiatives. This recognition of our continued commitment towards education gives a sense of satisfaction to each one of us.
Our CSR team continues to strive towards making positive impact across array of fields and are delivering on various initiatives and activities across the areas of education, sustainable livelihood, women empowerment, health, community asset creation and water and sports and culture through their well-rounded on-ground efforts. Strengthening our commitment towards health of our local community, Hindustan Zinc provided an oncology vehicle for early detection of various cancers to Rabindra Tagore Medical Institution on its 60th foundation day. Our football players made their debut in All India Football Federation Elite U-17 Youth Cup with incredible wins over top Indian youth team and the under 17 team of Zinc football players finished third in the 18th edition of Administrator's Challenge Cup held in Chandigarh. Moving on to the market.
Overall picture remains similar to previous quarter. The following a modest rise in Chinese demand due to lead acid battery exports. Coming to silver, prices witnessed an upside in the quarter and closed out at $23.95 per troy ounce. The supply side looks to be diminishing. Silver inventory is at two-year low globally, while output from mines has also been dropping continuously, making silver attractive for the medium term. Further, silver demand in the solar power sector is expected to continue to grow as nations look to develop green energy. On the domestic front, the economic environment in India remains buoyant. The sentiment is buoyed by optimism that demand would remain strong. This was reflected in S&P Global Manufacturing PMIs in December 2022, which was at 57.8, indicative of expansion in the manufacturing activity.
Further, the Indian economy is on track to achieve 6.8% to 7% GDP growth in the current fiscal and is in a better position to navigate global headwinds than other major emerging economies. With the union budget coming in, government's focus is expected to remain on infrastructure development, which will see the consumption of zinc grow substantially in 2023. Now turning to our third quarter results, starting with key highlights on page nine. I am delighted to inform that Hindustan Zinc has delivered a record nine-month production with highest ever mine metal and refined metal. With this run rate, we are fully geared to deliver another stellar performance this year. Mine metal for nine months was up by 5.4% year-on-year. Refined metal was up 7.9% year-on-year.
With consistent MIC flow from mines and better plant availabilities, our volume delivery has been on the up curve, and we are on the right track. The quarter performance on a consolidated basis was impacted by rising input costs, inflationary pressures, and unfavorable macros. Amid this challenging macroeconomic environment, we delivered a strong EBITDA margin of 52%. We have also been up to speed in some key projects. For our Zawar plant, we have locked in partners. Roaster and alloy plants are also in advanced stage. On strategic developments, I am happy to share that the board has approved the acquisition of THL Zinc Limited, having zinc mines across South Africa and Namibia, subject to receipt of requisite regulatory approval. These zinc assets have an R&R of over 35 million tons, which is equivalent to that of Hindustan Zinc.
This will help drive our growth inorganically by creating substantial synergies and unlocking value. I am also happy to inform that Hindustan Zinc is now REACH-registered, which will enable us to penetrate the European market. We have started selling in Europe and consider it a good opportunity to expand our market base further. All this while, we continue to export to our neighborhood countries and Southeast Asia. With continuous new developments and increased momentum in projects, along with valuable learning and some of the key structural changes that we have discussed over the last few quarters, alongside increased use of technology as well as learning deployed, we are confident to deliver the projected volumes for FY 2023 and move even beyond the same in coming years. Having said that, our production guidance for the fiscal year remains unchanged.
With this, I hand over the call to Sandeep for an update on the financial performance. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Misra. A very good afternoon, everyone. Hindustan Zinc has delivered a record-setting operational and financial performance with highest ever nine-month revenue and EBITDA, along with PAT, and has delivered another set of strong results despite the global gloom and input commodity inflation. We have laid a strong foundation for this landmark year by achieving a significant milestone of historic high nine-month volume. The last few months have seen a global economic grapple with inflation, despite which we are strongly moving forward, demonstrating our determination and resilience. Our quarterly performance was backed up by operational efficiency initiatives and volume delivery, keeping us ahead in this ever-evolving and volatile business environment.
Refer to slide 16 for an update on our financial performance for the third quarter and nine months ended December 2022. For the first nine months of FY 2023, revenue from operations stood at INR 4,581 crore, an improvement of 24% for the same period last year. This was supported by improved zinc inventory and volume gains from stability hedging, favorable exchange rate, and better lead and silver volume. This was partially offset by lower lead and silver prices. Revenue from operations during the quarter was at INR 4,866 crore, down by 2% Y-o-Y, mainly on account of lower lead and silver prices. Lower refined metal and silver volume, which was partially offset by favorable exchange rate and gains from stability hedging.
Sequentially, revenue grew 6%, primarily due to lower zinc prices, lower lead and silver volume, and lower gains from stability hedging, partially offset by favorable exchange rate, improved zinc volume, and improved lead and silver prices. For the nine months, the COGS stood at $1,272 per ton, 14% higher Y-o-Y in USD terms and 22% higher in INR terms. The COG was up mainly on account of elevated coal prices, lower domestic linkage to raw material, and input commodity inflation. It was partially offset by higher volume and improved operational efficiency. zinc cost of production before royalty during the quarter was $1,293 per ton, higher by 13% Y-o-Y and 3% sequentially. In the INR terms, it was 24% Y-o-Y and 6% sequentially for the same period.
Further, for quarter-on-quarter, it was higher on account of consumption of high-priced fuel inventory coinciding with lower asset prices and grades. The resulting EBITDA for nine months of FY 2023 was at INR 13,382 crore, an increase of 19% Y-o-Y, driven by improved metal and silver volumes, higher zinc inventory prices, and gains from stability hedging, and favorable exchange rate, partially offset by higher cost and lower blend and shipment prices. EBITDA for the quarter was INR 82,717 crore, down 15% year-over-year and 15% sequentially also. This movement of primarily driven by lower revenue from the coal prices coinciding with increased cost on account of prevailing input commodity inflationary environment. Free cash flow to EBITDA improved from 518 to 20 from further decrease.
Net profit for the nine months of 2023 was INR 7,928 crore, a growth of 18% year-over-year, led by higher EBITDA, partially offset by increasing tax. Net profit for the quarter stood at INR 2,156 crore, down 20% year-over-year and sequentially, majorly on account of lower EBITDA, offset by lower tax expense. ETR for the third quarter was 22%, whereas for the nine months it will be approximately 33%. Next slide. Our cash tax is much lower due to available net credit. Once you move to new tax regime for the next financial year, our tax rate will be around 25%. I'm happy to inform that board has further approved the third interim dividend of INR 13 per equity share, amounting to INR approximately 5,500 crore.
This reinforces our commitment of providing superior shareholder returns continuously. Entering Q4 2023 with softer coal index and increased optimism on coal availability domestically, we are confident on meeting our annual guidance and thereby maintaining our leadership in the global zinc cost curve. As mentioned by Mr. Mishra, with the new RE power tariffs coming in, it will not only further improve the cost predictably, but will also contribute towards the improvement of cost structure in the longer term. With this, I now open the floor for your questions.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. First question is from the line of Amit Dixit from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, good evening, everyone, thanks for taking my questions. I have couple of questions. The first one is on the brand and strategic management services to Vedanta that agreement at 2% of consolidated turnover. Just wanted to understand what was the need of this agreement at this point in time, how will Vedanta contribute more meaningfully than it was already doing? If you can highlight the broad contours of the agreement, that would be great. Does it carry any escalation clause at all? I mean, this is the first question.
If you look at it was long overdue. Not that this is at this point of time we are beginning something. It is long overdue. We, Hindustan Zinc has been benefiting from the association of Vedanta, not only as far as the brand of Vedanta is concerned as a global resource company, as well as various strategic services that it receives from Vedanta, including management assurance system services, which is very comforting for all shareholders, while also all the good trajectory of Hindustan Zinc has been always guided by the risk-taking ability of Vedanta. That if you factor those two and also induction of more and more digital, more and more automation, completely revamping the management structure, ensuring various centrally guided management control system has taken Hindustan Zinc to the level at which we are operating today.
This, in my opinion, was long overdue. We have got the approval today, and I think this is in line with the practices adopted by most of the multinational or the bigger companies, where the units receive strategic services and the benefit of association with the principal brand which is the group is known for.
Is there any escalation clause also that, you know, this 2% can move to, well, certain bits after a few years or something? If you can share some broad contours, the timeline of the agreement, if there is any, that would be helpful.
Amit, this from this year. As of now this is 2%. As and when anything board approves, it will be, we will come to you. We will make something known to you.
Okay. The second question in attention, subscription of shares in THL Zinc. Now, if I look at the, I mean, if I look at the consideration that is being paid and the EBITDA that this asset generates, it looks that it is at a higher valuation compared to given peers. While I understand the synergy part, I mean, just wanted to understand that is the synergy, and there won't be any, you know, well, the synergy between the offices because you operate in different territories altogether. Just wanted to understand, you know, what kind of synergies we are looking at to pay a premium of, according to my calculations and the EV/EBITDA works out to around 8.5x. Just wanted to understand it more.
Sure. Right now we are principally operating one underground mine and one big Gamsberg open pit mine . This is one of the biggest open pit mines in the world with the zinc ore in it. At this time we are entering almost equivalent, you can see the equivalence between what Hindustan Zinc was sometime around 2006-2007 or 2007-2008. We have got resource for open cast mining for some more years, while at the same time there are very good grade resource which has to be developed in the manner of underground.
Hindustan Zinc it brings in the expertise of high volume underground mining in the most modern methodology, and also Hindustan Zinc brings in with it the capability for concentration of the ore as well as quilting of ore, which will be the value addition to the property that we try to acquire. Two together, the resource base of Hindustan Zinc gets doubled by this acquisition and also the potential of production capacity gets doubled up to 2 million ton, with 1 million ton from India and 1 million ton from South Africa. Two different geographies, but two having fully integrated operations, which almost nobody has. With this kind of capacity with independent markets, wherein India will be on India, Southeast Asia, Africa would be more on the U.S. and Europe territory or Middle East territory.
With that two together, we'll be controlling a large part of global market. At the same time, we will be utilizing the capability that Hindustan Zinc has developed over last so many years of operation of concentrators and smelters. Hindustan Zinc will help this new unit to transition into underground mining in a very safe and very productive manner. If I look at it in other way, you know, 35, almost 31 million ton resource base with Hindustan Zinc market cap of over INR 17 billion-18 billion. We are similar resource base there and similar production potentially there. That's why to me it is strategically one of the best decisions that board could have taken.
Sir, just to comment, I mean, the potential was always there and there were challenges in developing this resource. Now, paying a premium, paying around a valuation 8.5, as I mentioned, looks little bit steep in my view. While I understand the overall potential of the resource, but how much time you will take to kind of bring it online and these benefits basically on board. Plus the premium part makes it a tad uncomfortable in my view.
Almost all factors were duly considered while taking this decision. Just to give better comfort, the current operations at that unit is about 300,000 tons of metal and concentrate production. Already the projects have been commissioned on the ground to double this capacity in next two years' time. Parallelly, we are working on the smelting capacity. Very soon the capacity can be doubled at that place. While we launch further projects to take it up to 1 million ton, as has been the vision.
I'm, that's why I'm saying it is at the inflection point what Hindustan Zinc was sometime in 2006, 2007, 2008 or so, when the new acquirers were planning for expansion of this mine, which was hardly at that 1/9-th or 1/10-th of the capacity as it is standing today. Yes, all factors have been duly considered while doing this approval.
Okay, sir. Thanks a lot. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. I request all the participants, please restrict to two questions per participant. If time permit, please come back in the question queue for a follow-up question. The next question is from the line of Pinakin Parekh from JPMorgan Chase & Co. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you very much. I have two questions. My first question is, given that it's a related party transaction, how will the government stake be considered in the whole income? Is it a minority stake, and hence they would have to approve the transaction, or is their approval not required? I'm just trying to understand.
Your voice is not very clear. May I request you to come in a better reception area, please?
Yeah, I'm just. Now, am I audible now?
Yes.
Yeah. Just how was the government stake considered and have they given their in-principle approval for this transaction?
This is approved by the board. Of course, the board approval follows approval or recommendations by the audit committee. Further, for course of action, all due approvals will be sought wherever required as per the law.
The government nominees on the board have approved the transaction. Would it be fair to say because the government nominees are there?
When we say board approval, we don't say individually which director opined what, but we can say overall the board has approved it.
Okay. How does Hindustan Zinc plan to fund this transaction? I mean, how much debt will the company be taking to fund this transaction?
At this point of time, if you see the consideration has been, the timeline has been put at 18 months, and it will be a installment basis with certain milestones. I believe most of the transaction will get funded through the internal approval.
Okay. Fair enough. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Prashant Kumar Godha from Emkay Global. Please go ahead. Prashant, may I request you to unmute your line from your side and go ahead with your question, please.
Hello. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, I would like to know more about this transaction. On a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you in terms of getting back or bringing these assets to the asset being acquired to 1 million ton per annum output? To give, to quote I want in the call center. On a scale of 1 to 10, if you could express your confidence, that'll be really helpful to us and the investors as well.
From my long 30-year experience in mining and my, you know, since the time we moved this proposal to board some, and the discussions that we had and my own personal involvement in due diligence, I can tell you apart from the factoring of 10% uncertainty which is there in any mining project, I am absolutely 90% confident.
Yes, sir. Thanks for the complete confidence. Sir, secondly, you had spoken about the milestones being met. If you could kindly broadly, briefly tell about what are these milestones and that are needed to be met, apart from the regulator approvals, of course?
There are certain milestones, like we have certain approvals which are required from the government on certain tax exemptions kind of thing. The deferment has been there on account of that. That deferred consideration will be payable based on that. There are certain milestones which they will do.
Okay. The broad out, excuse me, the deadline is 18 months. Do you think this will consummate within that? Is it front end or back end, if you could? What is, what's the best guess here?
Your call is not clear. We could not understand. Repeat.
Prashant, may I request you to speak through the handset, please?
okay, sure. What is your best guess on the timing needed to consummate this?
Timing.
Article?
If you read our, press release, it talks about the 18 months for completion of the transaction, which will like acquisition, regulatory approvals, payment in the trenches. The total 18 months are, have been put up. In the phase manner, there will be a payment.
Sure, sir. That is the outer end. If it is possible that it could be closed within, let's say 6 months from that point of time.
We are expecting the shareholder approval by February.
Understood, sir. Understood. Okay, sir. Thank you. Have a lovely day.
Thank you. Participants using speakerphone, please pick up your handset while asking a question. This is required to ensure optimum audio quality on the call. Next question is from the line of Rahul Jain from Systematix . Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my question. Sir, once again, coming on the transaction, what are the key assets over here in terms of size-wise and what kind of any number on volumes you can throw, say, what you can see one year after transaction or five year after transaction? I mean, what kind of further investment will be required?
There are two, three hings to be seen here. One, let me also give the strategic perspective. If Hindustan Zinc is to grow to 2 million tons, with Indian resources, it is not possible because our current mines, if you look at the expansion programs altogether, will limit at around 1.2 million tons. Traditionally, for last five years, we have been stagnating at around 1 million tons only. For last about two, three years we have been following up, there has been no new zinc mine has been opened up or put up for auction in India. World over also, there is no more such property of that such size which is available for acquisition. In that case, this makes the right choice for Hindustan Zinc to grow. That's what I said, in two different geographies.
If the property wise, if I look at it has got about 35 million ton plus R&R. Main properties are located in Gamsberg, in South Africa, in the Aggeneys is the name of the area, in the Northern Cape, close to it is the original, you know, Deeps and Swartberg mine . Also it has got in Skorpion in Namibia. These are the three biggest properties around which the, all the ores and R&R is available. Today, the opencast mine is fully operational with four pits. Underground mine in both Deeps and Swartberg are operational, and are on the expansion path. The Gamsberg mine, where the four pits are already operational. They are all together, we are producing about 300,000 tons of Mined Metal in Concentrate.
The projects are on just now as we speak for expansion of Gamsberg mine to take it to 600,000 ton in two years of time, doubling the capacity, and also looking to put up a smelter in Gamsberg as well as restart the smelter in Namibia property already has a smelter. Little bit of modification has to be done. Those will be done to hack both these capacities to convert 600,000 ton into metal. Third phase of expansion will be adding another 400,000 ton when we open up the underground property in Gamsberg and then take good grade ore which is there at a depth and allow and add another 400,000 tons.
Right. Right. Today already we are doing about INR 2,000 crore EBITDA in the zinc asset. Is it the right way to look at it?
Today? For the nine months of the year, it must be... No, they are. You are asking the currently year or you are asking for the future?
No, no. Current in the sense, these assets which you say, which you have elaborated, you already have your...
Yeah, I got it. Last year they closed with a $206 million of EBITDA current, of the FY 2022. Currently looking at the runway, we are going to do between $250 million-$300 million.
Right. Right. How would you break up the acquisition cost in terms of the producing assets as well as the second, the under development assets? Is there any split on this number, $3 billion?
There, total valuation considered all the aspects. You have to look at it has a 35 million tons of the R&R. We can see the SRK report report, it is an 8 billion tons of the proven reserve remaining in the major indicated and inferred category. We, while the valuation has been done, by the value of the all the relevant aspects has been taken into account. Of course, we are focusing more on the warehouse project share and their growth. Obviously their cash flow will also have to be taken into account. We cannot look at only the historical EBITDA to form.
Yeah, yeah. No, I absolutely understand. My point is that, in terms of the multiple that you would have given for the, assets which are already existing and for assets which are under development, can you give a breakup of that?
I mean, that discussion I would like to avoid. We were just talking over the 298 million of the R&R, so 35 million ton of the R&R for which we are deciding the premium.
You are saying from, say a number of 850 currently, you can reach to 600 and then, what is the time, what is the number in mind?
Overall 1 million ton-.
1 million ton is the number in mind.
INR 1 million.
By when?
Actually another Hindustan Zinc.
By 2027 or any, what is the timeline you have?
By 2025 it will be 600,000 tons, and by 2027 or 2028 it will be 1 million tons.
Where would you place it in terms of the cost curve, where we are at Hindustan Zinc, would it be similar or parallel to Hindustan Zinc cost curve around, at 1 million ton it will be around $1,000 per ton.
Right.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Very helpful.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Pallav Agarwal from Axis Stockbroking. We move to the next participant. Next question is from the line of Sumangal Nevatia from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening. Just some clarifications. I got disconnected in between. This development of the management fee, now being paid to Vedanta, is it already implemented and is there any more shareholder or any other approval required for this decision? This letter does not fall into any scheduled shareholder agreement. As per the company's business ADR, if it does, then the company can board approve it. Okay. Okay. What is the limit of transaction with related party that falls under shareholder approval? Any shareholder approval required if it is beyond the 5% of the turnover. Got it. Got it. This agreement has been signed for how long? I mean, when is the next revision, if at all it has to happen?
This agreement will be signed now after the board approval. For what time period? Two years. Two years. Signed for the three years. Okay. Okay. Got it. Second, with respect to this acquisition of Zinc International, I mean, they've mentioned the payouts will be staggered based on milestone. Just want to understand what sort of milestone are these. Are these operational or volume related milestone or some other regulatory approval milestone? These are largely regulatory approval related milestones, but large of the bulk of the payment will be in the first half in the next three to six months. Okay. Shareholder approval, we are expecting in February. We are hopeful to get shareholder approval by February end. Okay.
What are the other approvals apart from the shareholder approval that will be required? I think this is a normal acquisition. It will require only shareholder approval to execute the transaction. I don't think any further approval is required. Okay. We still expect over 18 months payout. Is that the right understanding? We have the deferred consideration which has been considered, so that's why it has been written 18 months. Okay. Okay. Got it. All right. Next year we are expecting tax rate to be around 25%? Yes. I think next year tax rate 25% as we will move to the new regime. Got it. Just one last clarification. We are continuing with our full- year cost guidance and the volume guidance because the press release it does not mention anything.
Of course, we are maintaining the same thing. The volume, as Mr. Misra said, we are on the right path and we should be in that range or maybe marginally better. In terms of cost, as of now it's like $9 or $1,273, and we are expecting in the Q4 with the lowering the coal index and better de-investing linkage coal availability, we are 100% confident we will be in the range which we have given to the market of $1,225-1,275.
Thank you. Sumangal, I'll request you to come back in the question queue for a follow-up question. I request to all the participants, please restrict to two questions per participant. If time permit, please come back in the question queue for a follow-up question. Next question is from the line of Alok Deora from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Good evening. Sir, just if you could repeat what's the cost of production we are looking at for the fourth quarter, and is that number actually?
I think for the fourth quarter we can't specify, but overall what market guidance we have given, $1,225-1,275, we will be well within that.
Sure. Also, sir, on the acquisition, how much debt we are looking at to take from the market for that? Because you mentioned in the press release of some external debt as well.
At this point of time, as I say, it should be largely funded through the internal accrual. As just simply I gave the answer when some other analyst asked. It will be largely funded through internal accrual. We are just putting as a, in the belief.
Sure. Sir, just one more thing.
Just one thing, if you see on the overall balance sheet side, INR 1,600 482 crore is there. We are telling the Q4 cash flow will also be there. The 10K will be there. It means at the net debt level, we will be obviously exceeding the number.
Sure. Sir, just last question on this. You know, coal linkage. How is the situation there now? What can be expected in Q4?
We have seen slight improvement in the coal linkage from Q3, but still not up to our satisfaction. We believe that from February onwards we will get more, but the indications are from the coal authority that the linkage numbers are going to increase, number of rakes that we get per month. Q4 numbers will be better than what it was in Q3. At the same time, our high cost stock of imported coal is almost will be over by January end. February, March, we should be getting more of low cost imported coal, so it should be incorporated.
Okay. Just one actually follow-up question, sir. You know, with this acquisition, you know, assuming it goes through, next, say, to four three years, what kind of, you know, numbers we are looking at?
You know, mining side, I mean, how much can we do with that? Because that ramp up, everything which you are talking about will take its own time. Any see number for FY or you know, for say three to four years down the line we can look at.
Now four years down the line, see Hindustan Zinc will stand at about 1.1 million ton metal level. Okay.
Right.
In 2 years time, I should look at somewhere around 300,000 ton of current production will go to 600,000 ton in case of ZI. In their minefield. In four years time this will be close to 1 million ton.
Sure, sure. Combined 2 million could be achieved in four years.
Combined 2 million could be achieved.
Sure. Okay, sir. That's all from my side. Thank you and all the best, sir.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Ritesh Shah from Investec. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Of course, congratulations for the master stroke. Sir, I just have a couple of queries. One is, if I read the press release right, basically it's a overseas entity, transacting with a wholly owned subsidiary which is also overseas entity. Would it be fair to assume that there won't be an element of long-term capital gains tax?
No.
Okay, that helps. Second clarification, I think in one of the prior questions it was asked that there is no majority of minority required, you did indicate that it is not required. Did I hear it right?
Majority of minority.
Majority of the minority will be required in the shareholder approval. We say shareholder approval will be required. As per the SEBI law, since the related party transaction, we require majority of the minority.
Thank you. I request to all the participants, please restrict to two questions per participant. The next question is from the line of Kirtan Mehta from BOB Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir, for this opportunity. I would want to go back to the transaction in terms of the approvals. While you have said that the shareholder approval is targeted in February, at the same point of time there is a deferred consideration which is linked to the regulatory milestones. Which are these regulatory approvals which we advertise over 18 months? Could you elaborate more on this?
I think we are not talking about regulatory approvals of Hindustan. We are taking such a regulatory approvals which, these entities would require in their respective geographies. Once they receive it, then it will be paid to them.
This is basically the approval in South Africa and Namibia related to transfer of ownership to another subsidiary.
Correct. Correct.
Right. In terms of would you also sort of give us a pro forma, like debt number, net cash number for Hindustan Zinc after completion of this transaction?
If you see like INR 2.4 billion is a immediate cash consideration, and Hindustan Zinc is sitting as of now around INR 16,500 crore. In the Q4, whatever the numbers I can't estimate and predict, but as of this point of time, if you say given the performance which we have, we should be having a good amount of balance. Even after paying off this, we'll be having a very good asset in our book. Net pro forma number is obviously may be possibly lesser. The cash will go, but at the same time we'll get a asset which is not available normally as this kind of large 35 million ton of R&R.
I will pay the cash and I will get the, it's such a beautiful asset, which will add to Hindustan Zinc and make Hindustan Zinc to be almost 13% of the market share globally in the zinc and maybe number one zinc producer company.
Thank you, Mr. Mehta. I'll request you to come back for a follow-up question. Next question is from the line of Ashish Kejriwal from Nuvama Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for giving me an opportunity. Just one clarification. In this transaction, whether government will be considered as minority or it's a part of the promoter group?
We are as of now, we have only got the board approval, and we will go for shareholders approval, and we will see it at that point of time. As of now, we are not making any opinion on such things which are subject to legal, you know, opinion. Perhaps me and Sandeep are not in the best place to comment on such things.
Okay. Okay. secondly, when you are saying that all money, this, $2.9 billion, that will be paid to Vedanta only or there will be some infusion into Hindustan also on account of this? This is entirely different from whatever capital you are talking about?
If you understand the total valuation, it has been done on a DCF method for the and a 20% of the payment is deferred. Majority payment will be paid immediately after the shareholder approval, as I said. The payment will go to obviously the Vedanta Limited. Whatever the future projects are there, it will be like funded by Hindustan through its own cash itself, as they will be having their own cash generation. Lot of projects are coming on the line.
Okay. Sir, when you are talking about up to 2.98-
Also note that entity is a largely debt-free entity.
Mm-hmm.
They have a strong balance on their side also to draw cash and invest into their own business.
Sure. Sure. When you are talking about up to $2.98 billion, what's the possibility of coming down or something because it's a fixed transaction? Is this a somewhat variable attached to it?
As I said, $2.4 billion roughly is an immediate cash consideration, remaining $550 million is up to the milestone. Once these milestones are achieved, that time it will be paid. That's why we give the transaction timeline as a going to be 18 months.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, that will be the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Jhalak Rastogi for closing comments.
Thank you everyone. With this, we close today's earnings call. For any follow-up questions or clarifications on the results, please feel free to reach out to Investor Relations team. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. On behalf of Hindustan Zinc Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.