India

Adani Group Prepays $900m of Share-Backed Financing

The Adani Group is looking to allay fears about its "precarious debt level", alleged in Hindenburg Research's recent report, which caused the group's market value to be cut in half. File photo: Reuters.

The Adani Group has prepaid share-backed financing of more than $900 million to allay fears over leverage and debt, India’s embattled conglomerate said on Tuesday.

The move comes after the a US report from Hindenburg Research alleged stock manipulation and improper use of tax havens by Adani, and flagged “substantial” debt levels, which the group has denied.

The billionaire Gautam Adani-led group recently held road shows in Hong Kong and Singapore, and is expected to hold another set of fixed income meetings in Dubai, London and the United States.

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Lenders will release 31 million pledged shares of Adani Enterprises, worth a 4% stake in the company, and 155 million shares, worth an 11.8% stake, of Adani Ports, the group said in a statement on Tuesday.

Lenders will also release pledged shares equivalent to a 1.2% and 4.5% stake in Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission, respectively.

Share Pledge

In a similar move, the group in February pre-paid $1.11 billion. With Tuesday’s repayment, the group has so far repaid around $2.02 billion of share-backed financing, it said.

Last week, it was reported that the conglomerate told creditors creditors it had secured a $3-billion loan from a sovereign wealth fund.

That was shortly followed by a $1.87-billion stake purchase from Australia-listed and Florida-based investment firm GQG Partners in the four group companies mentioned earlier, whose shares have since risen between 10% to 23% so far.

GQG’s founder Rajiv Jain will meet clients and investors in Australia this week to explain its investment in the Adani group, the company said in a separate statement on Tuesday.