Adani repays $3 billion in mortgages, bonds

“The $1.88 billion equity funding raised by GQG Partners and an additional $1 billion from promoter-group funding will be used to issue a major portion of promoters’ pledges and to issue bonds early,” said one of the two people, requesting anonymity. was done to repay.”

Regulatory filings last week revealed that the beleaguered conglomerate has reduced promoters’ pledges in four of Adani Group’s nine listed companies – Adani Enterprises Ltd, Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd, Adani Transmission Ltd and Adani Green Energy Ltd spent less than $2.54 billion.

“This is probably the largest amount ever spent by an Indian group in a single quarter to reduce promoter pledge,” said a senior investment banker.

Additionally, according to the two people cited above and copies of internal notes reviewed by Mint, the group paid at least Commercial Papers (CPs) worth Rs 3,650 crore sold to SBI Mutual Fund 2,750 Crore), Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund ( 500 Crore) and HDFC Mutual Fund ( 450 crore) during the March quarter.

The moves were aimed at allaying investor concerns after the Hindenburg Report, published on January 24, saw the group’s market value plummet by $145 billion.

A spokesperson for the Adani Group declined to comment.

As Adani Group shares took a prolonged tumble following the Hindenburg report, the group held a series of roadshows with large investors and creditors during the March quarter. Following a sharp correction in Adani Group shares, US-based boutique asset management company GQG Partners on March 2 bought 3.4% in AEL, 4.1% in Adani Ports, 2.5% in Adani Transmission and 3.5% in Adani Green from Adani Group. Did. total promoters of $1.88 billion or 15,446 crores.

“The group did a roadshow in Singapore on February 27, followed by a two-day roadshow in Hong Kong on February 28 and March 1,” said the first person.

“The Singapore meeting was organized with the help of 12 global banks including BNP Paribas, DBS Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, ING and Mizuho. The Adani group was represented by group chief financial officer Jugshinder Singh and head of corporate finance Anupam Mishra,” the first person added.

As per recent regulatory filing, Adani Group has spent more 21,000 crore to reduce the promoter group’s pledge in several of its listed flagship companies. These efforts have raised pledges in Adani Enterprises from 1.94% to 0.44%, Adani Ports from 11.28% to 2.84%, Adani Transmission from 4.92% to 2.69%, and Adani Green Energy from 2.65% to 2% between December and March. ,

After the Hindenburg report, the Adani group has made efforts to reduce the pledged shares of the promoter group. The group has spent at least 12,100 crore to reduce mortgage in Adani Ports, 4,000 crore in Adani Enterprises, 3,762 crore in Adani Transmission, and 1,145 crore in the March quarter in Adani Green Energy. However, promoter pledge in Adani Power Ltd has increased marginally from 18.75% to 18.85% between December and March. Promoter-group pledges in Ambuja Cements and ACC Ltd remain unchanged at 63% and 6.64%, respectively, from December 2022.

In FMCG food company Adani Wilmar, the group that owns Fortune brands had locked in 22.75% of the company’s shares at the end of March, though no shares have been pledged. This means that the promoters must reduce their stake to at least 75% or less in order to comply with the minimum public shareholding norms.

The reduction in the level of pledging of Adani’s shares and prepayment of loans has checked the free fall in the group’s shares, especially those firms in which promoter pledges have been brought down.

Despite the recent controversies, the Adani Group has attracted nearly 2.25 million new public shareholders, mostly retail and so-called high-net-worth individuals, who bought shares worth at least $3.1 billion in the group during the March quarter. In addition, the Life Insurance Corporation of India increased its stake in several group firms.