Adani Group repays $500-mn bridge loan due Thursday to boost investor confidence: Report

The Adani Group has repaid a $500-million bridge loan due Thursday to restore investor faith in its financial health after US short seller Hindenburg Research's scathing report against it, said a report on Wednesday.

The money was released to lenders on Tuesday, reported Bloomberg quoting sources. The Gautam Adani-led conglomerate has pre-paid about $2 billion of share-backed loans, made bond repayments on time and won another $1.9-billion investment from star investor Rajiv Jain of GQG Partners.

"Global banks had lent Adani $4.5 billion to finance the purchase of Holcim Ltd. cement assets last year, and a portion of this was due March 9. The next tranche of the loan comes due in 2024," the Bloomberg report said.

In a $10.5-billion deal, Adani Group picked up Holcim Group’s entire stake in two Indian firms — Ambuja Cements and ACC. This is also the largest-ever acquisition by Adani, and India’s largest-ever M&A transaction in the infrastructure and materials space. Holcim sold its 63.19% stake in Ambuja Cements Ltd and 54.53% in ACC (of which 50.05% is held through Ambuja Cements) to Adani Group.

The latest development comes a day after it emerged that Adani Group has done prepayment of share-backed financing worth Rs 7,374 crore to various international banks and Indian financial institutions, as part of its promoters' commitment to cut overall leverage backed by shares of the Group's listed companies.

Promoters of the Group's flagship firm, Adani Enterprises Ltd, will release 31 million shares, or a 4% stake, while Adani Ports' promoters will release 155 million shares, or an 11.8% stake, the Group said in a statement.

Promoters of Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission will release 1.2% and 4.5% stakes in the respective companies.

The ports-to-power conglomerate has been on a charm offensive to lure investors after Hindenburg Research released a report alleging stock manipulation and improper use of offshore tax havens by the conglomerate, which it has denied.

Last month, Economic Times reported that Adani was in talks to repay a $500-million bridge loan facility, maturing in March, it had taken to buy controlling stakes in cement companies ACC Ltd and Ambuja Cements Ltd.

The loan was underwritten by Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered, ET reported.

Adani stocks have rebounded after Australia-listed and Florida-based investment firm GQG Partners Inc picked up stakes worth $1.87 billion in four of the group's companies, including flagship firm Adani Enterprises.

GQG would likely expand its investment in the group, the fund firm's founder Rajiv Jain said earlier on Wednesday.

The stake purchase by the US boutique investment firm in four Adani firms marked the first major investment in billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate since a short-seller's critical report resulted in its listed firms losing about $130 billion in market value.

Last week, SB Adani Family Trust cumulatively sold about 21 crore in four of the Adani Group companies through the open market. GQG Partners bought 2.84 crore shares of Adani Transmission on Thursday at Rs 668.4 apiece aggregating to Rs 1,898 crore, 3.87 crore shares of Adani Enterprises at Rs 1,410.86 apiece aggregating to Rs 5,460 crore, 8.86 crore shares of Adani Ports at Rs 596.2 apiece aggregating to Rs 5,282 crore, 5.56 crore shares of Adani Green Energy at Rs 504.60 apiece aggregating to Rs 2,806 crore. Post-stake purchase, these firms' shares rose between 10.2% to 23.4% so far.

Adani Group is scheduled to hold road shows in London on March 8 and several US locations between March 9-15 to boost investor confidence.