Anil Agarwal's Vedanta group has offered to sweeten its offers for acquiring the remaining government stakes in Hindustan Zinc (HZL) and Balco. The group may shell out over Rs 21,000 crore, up to 25 per cent more than planned earlier, for buying the government's remaining stakes in HZL and Balco as its previous offers have not been accepted so far. Vedanta has called a shareholders meet in London on August 28, alongside its annual general meeting, to seek nod for the sweetening of its offers for acquiring the remaining government stakes in the two firms. If it goes through, this deal alone could meet over 70 per cent of the government's disinvestment target of Rs 30,000 crore for this year. The Vedanta Group currently has equity interests in HZL and Balco of 64.9 per cent and 51.0 per cent respectively, and the government has equity interests of 29.5 per cent and 49.0 per cent respectively. On January 9, Vedanta offered to acquire the government’s stake in HZL for $2.93 billion and Balco for $338 million respectively. “As the government has not, to date, accepted the company’s offers, approval from shareholders is being sought on the basis that the company is authorised to negotiate the acquisition of the entirety of the government’s interest in HZL for an aggregate consideration not more than 15 per cent, higher than the price offered and in Balco for an aggregate consideration not exceeding $550 million,” Vedanta said in a note to shareholders. The group, in January, had offered Rs 15,493 crore for buying 29.5 per cent in HZL, and Rs 1,782 crore for 49 per cent residual holding in Balco. "After shareholders approval, the company board would have the powers to raise the offer price up to Rs 18,606.10 crore ($3.378 billion) for HZL, and up to Rs 3,028.78 crore ($550 million) for Balco," said an agency report. Of its shares held in HZL and Balco, the government has an option to transfer up to 3.5 per cent of HZL’s share capital and up to 5.0 per cent of Balco’s capital to their respective employees. Stating that the acquisition of remaining stakes in HZL and Balco are not linked to each other, Vedanta has cautioned shareholders that there is no certainty about the timeline of the transactions as the government has not yet accepted its offers. It further said that the shareholders' nod, if given for the two acquisitions, will be valid till August 9, 2013. (With PTI)