Adani flagship shelves $122 million bond plan after market rout

Mumbai: Adani Enterprises has shelved a plan to raise as much as Rs10 billion ($122 million) via its first-ever public sale of bonds following a market rout, according to people familiar with the matter.

The flagship firm of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s empire had planned the public note issuance for January, working with Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd., AK Capital, JM Financial, and Trust Capital, Bloomberg had reported in December. But activity has now stopped, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

The development is the latest in a sudden reversal of fortune for the conglomerate, after US-based shortseller Hindenburg Research late last month accused it of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. While the group has vigorously denied the allegations, its stock and bond prices have slumped.

The turmoil last week forced Adani Enterprises to abruptly pull a record Rs200 billion follow-on public offer of shares, and marks a stunning contrast to just a few months ago when the conglomerate was looking to raise funds to finance expansion plans. In a sign of just how prohibitively expensive any attempted debt financing for group firms could now be, the yield on an Adani Green Energy Ltd. bond spiraled over 36 per cent last week.

Edelweiss declined to comment, while the other three financial firms that were on the planned Adani Enterprises note offering didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. There was no response from a spokesperson for Adani Group to an emailed request for comment.

The market rout will likely reduce the group’s ability to raise money for capital expenditure projects or to refinance debt over the next year or two, according to Moody’s Investors Service.