Adani firms clear plan for $3.5 billion fundraising
Firms secured similar approvals in 2023 to raise $2.6b but were set to expire in June
Adani Enterprises Ltd., the flagship of billionaire Gautam Adani's empire, has secured board nod to raise as much as 166 billion rupees ($2 billion), a day after the group's power utility unit got similar approval for $1.5 billion.
The holding company and the business incubator of the Adani Group can deploy multiple modes including a share sale to institutions, Adani Enterprises said in an exchange filing Tuesday. The fundraising may happen in one or more tranches, it added.
Adani Energy Solutions Ltd. had received similar consent from its board on Monday to raise as much 125 billion rupees ($1.5 billion), in a sign that the ports-to-power conglomerate will step up capital spending. Both companies will still need other approvals including from shareholders, according to their filings.
These firms secured similar approvals in 2023 to raise a total of $2.6 billion but those approvals were set to expire in June, triggering the need to get fresh sign-offs from the two boards.
The conglomerate, which has raised almost $6 billion from marquee investors including Rajiv Jain's GQG Partners LLC, Qatar Investment Authority and TotalEnergies SE since January 2023, is back to aggressively expanding its businesses. A scathing short-seller attack by Hindenburg Research early last year had forced the conglomerate to rein in debt and go slow on its rapid growth spree, after a stock rout wiped out more than $150 billion in market value.
The flagship's shares rose as much as 1.2 per cent in Mumbai during trading, pushing this year's climb to 15 per cent. Adani Energy advanced as much as 2.8 per cent during the day, after it's post-market hours fundraising announcement on Monday. Both stocks gave up the day's gains by 12:31 p.m. Mumbai.
Adani Enterprises is likely to get board consent for as much as $1.5 billion while Adani Energy can raise up to $500 million, Bloomberg News reported earlier in the week citing people familiar with the internal discussions.
The two companies are aiming to tap four to five big international investors who are keen to participate in India's infrastructure growth, the people said. The move, if successful, will broaden the shareholder base "- one of the key criticisms against Adani Group companies "- as well as increase its heft globally.
The board approvals for fundraising are enabling resolutions so that companies can act quickly whenever they find the best financing terms. It's not mandatory for companies to raise these funds.
Four out of 10 Adani Group stocks have risen to pre-Hindenburg levels and tycoon Adani's net worth has surged $25 billion this year to go past $109 billion, as it continues to claw back lost ground with investors and lenders.
Adani Enterprises last week briefly recovered all its losses since the Hindenburg report but Adani Energy is still reeling almost 60 per cent below the level it was at before the short-seller's bombshell report.