Embattled Adani Group on March 12 mentioned it has repaid loans aggregating $2.65 billion to finish a prepayment programme forward of the March 31 deadline to chop general leverage in an try and win again investor belief submit a damning report of a U.S. quick vendor.
In a press release, Adani group mentioned it has repaid $2.15 billion of loans that have been taken by pledging shares within the conglomerate’s listed corporations and in addition one other $500 million in loans taken for the acquisition of Ambuja Cement.
The announcement comes inside days of the group saying it has pre-paid ₹7,374 crore (about $902 billion) loans that have been taken pledging shares in 4 group corporations. This has now been scaled as much as $2.15 billion.
While Adani group has not detailed the supply of cash for reimbursement of loans, these got here inside days of the promoters promoting minority stakes in 4 listed corporations to U.S.-based GQG Partners for ₹15,446 crore.
“In continuation of promoters’ commitment to repay the promoter leverage, Adani has completed full prepayment of margin linked share backed financing aggregating to $2.15 billion, well before the committed timeline of March 31, 2023,” it mentioned. “In addition to above, promoters have also prepaid a $500 million facility taken for Ambuja acquisition financing.”
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This, it mentioned, was in step with promoters’ dedication to extend fairness contribution and promoters have now infused $2.6 billion out of complete acquisition worth of $6.6 billion for Ambuja and ACC.
“The entire prepayment program of $2.65 billion has been completed within 6 weeks, which testifies the strong liquidity management and access to capital at sponsor level, supplementing the solid capital prudency adopted at all portfolio companies,” the assertion mentioned.
The final announcement of prepayment of share-backed financing of ₹7,374 crore on March 7 was adopted by extra shares belonging to corporations of the group being pledged as safety for loans taken by the group’s flagship agency.
On March 8, SBICap Trustee in notices to inventory exchanges had acknowledged {that a} additional 0.99% shares in Adani Green Energy Ltd have been pledged “for the benefits of the lenders” of Adani Enterprises Ltd. An extra 0.76% shares in Adani Transmission Ltd. have been additionally pledged to banks, the trustee mentioned.
With the newest pledge, the full shares in Adani Green Energy Ltd – the group’s renewable power firm – that have been encumbered with SBICap was 2%. In the case of Adani Transmission, this got here to 1.32%.
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The March 7 assertion acknowledged that the reimbursement of ₹7,374 crore will launch pledges on shares of promoters in 4 group corporations, and along with repayments completed earlier, the group has pay as you go $2.016 billion of share-backed financing.
Founder chairman Gautam Adani and his brother Rajesh on behalf of SB Adani Family Trust on March 2 introduced sale of shares in flagship incubating agency Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), port firm Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), electrical energy transmitting agency Adani Transmission Ltd (AEL) and renewable power agency Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL).
That sale helped the group flip the narrative constructing because the U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research launched a damning report on January 24.
The 10 listed Adani Group corporations, which collectively had misplaced about $135 billion in market worth following the report, have seen inventory costs rise in successive buying and selling periods ever since.
In September final yr, CreditSights, a Fitch Group unit, mentioned the group was “deeply overleveraged” because it used debt to increase an empire centred on ports and coal mining to incorporate airports, knowledge centres and cement in addition to inexperienced power.
In the January 24 report, U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research flagged “substantial” debt ranges on the group whereas alleging accounting fraud and use of offshore shell corporations to inflate inventory costs.
Watch | How have Adani Group’s shares behaved during the last month?
The group has denied all Hindenburg allegations, calling them “malicious”, “baseless” and a “calculated attack on India”.
It is now hoping to claw again the narrative by selecting gradual and regular development over the breakneck, largely debt-fuelled, growth spree of current years.
It has already scrapped a ₹7,000-crore coal plant buy, determined to not bid for a stake in state-backed power buying and selling agency PTC, reined in bills, repaid some debt and promised to repay extra.
Adani Group’s gross debt has doubled within the final 4 years. It has virtually $2 billion value of foreign-currency bonds arising for reimbursement in 2024.
The group’s gross debt has grown from ₹1.11 lakh crore in 2019 to ₹2.21 lakh crore in 2023, in response to a presentation made to buyers final month.
After together with money, the online debt was ₹1.89 lakh crore in 2023.
