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.
- Reuters, with additional editing from Alfie Habershon
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