The Adani Group has repaid a $500-million bridge loan due Thursday to restore investor faith in its financial health after US short seller Hindenburg Research’s scathing report against it, said a report on Wednesday.
The money was released to lenders on Tuesday, reported Bloomberg quoting sources. The Gautam Adani-led conglomerate has pre-paid about $2 billion of share-backed loans, made bond repayments on time and won another $1.9 billion investment from star investor Rajiv Jain of GQG Partners.
“Global banks had lent Adani $4.5 billion to finance the purchase of Holcim Ltd. cement assets last year, and a portion of this was due March 9. The next tranche of the loan comes due in 2024,” the Bloomberg report said.
In a $10.5-billion deal, Adani Group picked up Holcim Group’s entire stake in two Indian firms — Ambuja Cements and ACC. This is also the largest-ever acquisition by Adani, and India’s largest-ever M&A transaction in the infrastructure and materials space. Holcim sold its 63.19% stake in Ambuja Cements Ltd and 54.53% in ACC (of which 50.05% is held through Ambuja Cements) to Adani Group.
The latest development comes a day after it emerged that Adani Group has done prepayment of share-backed financing worth Rs 7,374 crore to various international banks and Indian financial institutions, as part of its promoters’ commitment to cut overall leverage backed by shares of the Group’s listed companies.
The ports-to-power conglomerate has been on a charm offensive to lure investors after US short seller Hindenburg Research released a report alleging stock manipulation and improper use of offshore tax havens by the conglomerate, which it has denied.