Adani Green Energy Ltd. led gains in shares in companies controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani after it raised $1.4 billion loan for a renewable energy project, signaling that the Indian conglomerate continues to regain lender confidence following a brutal short-seller attack earlier this year.
The senior debt facility was secured from a consortium of eight international banks, including BNP Paribas, Rabobank, DBS Bank Ltd, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc, the company said in a filing Tuesday.
Shares of the company surged by a record 20 per cent, flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. rallied more than 11 per cent intraday, while Adani Total Gas Ltd. and Adani Energy Solutions Ltd. climbed at least 14 per cent in Mumbai.
The jump extends the recent strong gains that have pushed up the ports-to-power group's market value to over $153 billion, the highest since Jan. 31, though the combined value is still more than $80 billion below the level before Hindenburg Research released its report late January.
Post Hindenburg's report "investor sentiment took the hit and there was doubt over their corporate disclosures," said Alok Churiwala, managing director at Churiwala Securities Pvt. in Mumbai. But the group has managed to allay investor concerns about the points raised by Hindenburg, he added.
Adani Green's fundraising adds to the string of good news that's bolstered investor sentiment toward the group in recent weeks. Adani Group, whose stronghold on India's infrastructure has helped its recovery from the blow dealt by the scathing report, has secured a $3.5 billion refinancing, backing from a US government agency for a Sri Lanka port project and investments from GQG Partners and Qatar Investment Authority in the past few months.
Tuesday's surge was also fueled by Bloomberg News report that the US government had examined Hindenburg's allegations against the Adani Group before giving it a $553 million loan for the Sri Lanka terminal and found that they weren't relevant.
Last month, India's Supreme Court concluded hearings in a regulatory probe investigating the US short seller's allegations. The top court reserved its verdict on the probe, saying it won't take scathing media reports on the conglomerate as the "gospel truth." That stoked a relief rally in Adani stocks.
Adani Green's hybrid energy project - with wind and solar facilities in the deserts of Gujarat, Adani's home state - will have a capacity of 17 gigawatts. That generation, roughly equal to the total installed electricity capacity of Portugal, would bolster Adani Green's target of 45 gigawatt renewable capacity by 2030 and India's pledge to be net carbon zero by 2070.
The $1.4 billion loan deepens the funding for the world's largest green energy park at Khavda in western India to $3 billion since the project's financing commenced in March 2021.
"The funding not only validates our expertise as a developer and operator of strategically vital renewable energy projects but also demonstrates the trust by our financiers in our strategic vision," said Amit Singh, Adani Green's chief executive officer, in the statement filed to exchanges.
