Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Adani Green, Ambuja Cements: Adani group shares in focus on debt payments, stake sale report

Shares of Adani group companies namely Adani Enterprises Ltd, Adani Power, Adani Green, Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas, among others, will be in focus today after the group said it has completed the entire prepayment of margin-linked share-backed financing, amounting to $2.15 billion, ahead of the committed timeline of March 31, 2023. Since the Hindenburg Research report came out on January 24, the Adani group has been focused on cutting debt in a bid to ease investor concerns.

Adani group has have also prepaid the $500 million facility taken for Ambuja acquisition financing, in line with commitment to increase equity contribution. As a result, the promoters have infused $2.6 billion out of the total acquisition value of $6.6 billion for Ambuja and ACC.

Ambuja Cements stake sale

There have also been reports of Adani group mulling to sell 4-5 per cent stake in Ambuja Cements to raise funds. Quoting sources, Financial Times reported Adani on Thursday made a formal request to international lenders to sell 4-5 per cent stake in Ambuja Cements as part of debt reduction to restore investor confidence in the conglomerate reeling from allegations made by US short seller Hindenburg Research.

Last year, 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 per cent stake in Ambuja Cements Ltd and 54.53 per cent stake in ACC (of which 50.05 per cent stake is held through Ambuja Cements) to Adani Group.

GQG buying stake in Ambuja Cements?

The Adani Group is likely to make an announcement early this week on selling a stake in its cement business, with GQG Partners being one of the probable buyers, Businessline reported quoting sources.

To recall, GQG was the first major investment in Adani Group since Hindenburg's critical report that triggered an up to 80 per cent rout in Adani group shares. It bought 38,701,168 Adani Enterprises shares at Rs 1,410.86 apiece for Rs 5,460 crore. It purchased 88,600,000 Adani Ports shares at Rs 596.20 apiece for Rs 5,282 crore. In Adani Transmission, it bought 28,400,000 shares at Rs 668.40, totalling Rs 1,898 crore. Besides, it bought 55,600,000 shares of Adani Green Energy at Rs 504.60, valuing Rs 2,806 crore.

Gautam Adani wealth at $56.1 billion

Thanks to slew of positive announcements on loan payments, shares of Adani group stocks have recovered a bit. This has lifted Gautam Adani's wealth to $56.10 billion. The fortunes of the group founder and Chairman had hit a low of $37.7 billion on February 27. He now ranks 21 on the Bloomberg Billionaire index. Adani fell to the 30th spot earlier.

Adani alone was worth $150 billion in September last year. But since then, the group shares were showing a downward trend. The Hindenburg Research report, however, triggered a selloff in Adani group scrips, as it alleged accounting frauds and stock manipulation at the group companies. Recently Supreme Court ordered the market regulator Sebi to conduct an investigation to ascertain if the conglomerate violated market norms. The Adani group, which has been denying the allegations of accounting fraud and stock manipulation made by the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research, welcomed the move.

Also read: YES Bank shares brace for selloff as lock-in period ends today: Stock has 64% 'sell' calls

Also read: Stocks to buy: Zomato, LIC, Nykaa among largecap shares with biggest upside potential; 30-40% upside likely