By Alex MacDonald

LONDON--U.K.-listed, India-focused Vedanta Resources (VED.LN) said Wednesday that its debt refinancing plan is progressing well and that it wants to secure an investment grade credit rating in the future.

Credit rating companies, Moody's Investors Service and Standard and Poor's, both put Vedanta's long-term credit rating under review for a possible downgrade recently due to concerns about the company's ability to finalize the refinancing of its upcoming maturities.

The FTSE-100 miner's Chief Financial Officer DD Jalan sought to allay those concerns by telling analysts on a call that "The refinancing is progressing well and we expect it to be closed well ahead of the [June] maturity."

Vedanta has $1.35 billion of debt due to mature in June and announced on Wednesday that it had successfully refinanced an $810 million payment due April 29 that is part of an $883 million convertible bond due in 2017.

Mr. Jalan said the convertible bond payment was refinanced by using cash and bank loans, resulting in an average financing coupon rate of 4% annually with a maturity of over four years. He noted that this was similar to the previous coupon payment on the convertible bond and that he expects Vedanta's future refinancing plans to be executed at similar levels.

"We have got a robust business," Mr. Jalan said, adding that he is hopeful the credit rating agencies' concerns will be allayed in coming months, following the completion of its refinancing program.

Mr. Jalan said he expects to be in a position to unveil the final refinancing program in early May and noted that the company wants to raise its credit rating to investment grade over time.

Moody's has a Ba1 corporate family rating and a Ba3 senior unsecured rating on Vedanta, while S&P has a 'BB' foreign currency long-term rating on the company. These ratings are currently below investment grade.

-Write to Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@dowjones.com

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