
The embattled Adani Group on Tuesday said it prepaid share-backed financing of Rs 7,374 crore ($901.16 million) 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.
The development comes at a time when the ports-to-power conglomerate lined up more road shows to shore up investor confidence days after it raised Rs 15,446 crore from US-based GQG Partners.
The stake purchase by the 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 $135 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.
Starting Tuesday, Adani Group will hold road shows in London, Dubai and several cities in the United States. The meetings are scheduled for Dubai on March 7, London on March 8 and several US locations between March 9-15.
Adani Group has been looking to ease concerns about its credit profile after a US-based short seller noted high debt and alleged improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation, which Adani denied.
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.
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.
Overall, Adani group firms' net debt totalled $24.1 billion as of September 2022.
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.
With inputs from Reuters