BENGALURU - Vedanta Resources will sell a 2.6% stake in Indian metals-to-oil firm Vedanta to a group of institutional investors, the former said in a statement on Wednesday.

The move marks an about-turn from a week ago when Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal said there were no plans for a stake sale by the company's controlling shareholders.

Vedanta Resources will sell the stake through its unit Finsider International, which held a 2.63% stake in Mumbai-listed Vedanta as of March-end, according to exchange data.

The firm did not disclose the financial details of the deal or the names of the investors.

Vedanta Resources, whose debt stood at $6 billion as of March 31, has been grappling with a host of rating downgrades since last year as analysts flagged liquidity issues and high default risk.

On completing the stake sale, the firm would have reduced its debt by $650 million so far in fiscal 2025, the statement said.

Vedanta's shares fell more than 6% in early trade and were last down 2.7%, with about 83 million shares changing hands through block deals at a discount to the previous closing price of 454.05 rupees.

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)