In this weekly round-up, we talk about Juniper Hotels’ Rs 1,800-cr IPO, Moody’s revising outlook on Adani Group companies, and Seal EV sedan launch in March among other news.
Weekly Business Roundup at 10:00 am on 18th February 2024.
[Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated]
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Let’s begin with some IPO news that made headlines this week. Juniper Hotels Ltd, which runs hotels under the “Hyatt” brand, fixed a price band of Rs 342-360 per share this week for its Rs 1,800-crore initial public offering. The maiden public issue will open for subscription on February 21 and close on February 23, the company said in a statement. The IPO is entirely a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 1,800 crore with no Offer For Sale component. Of the total proceeds, funds to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore will be utilised for payment of debt availed by the company and subsidiaries — Chartered Hotels Private Limited and Chartered Hampi Hotels Private Limited.
Meanwhile, Markets regulator Sebi this week proposed promoting collective oversight of PMS distributors by making registration with the Association of Portfolio Managers in India mandatory for them and facilitating ease of digital onboarding process for portfolio managers’ clients. The proposals are aimed at promoting ease of doing business initiatives for portfolio managers. In its consultation paper, the regulator proposed making registration with APMI mandatory for PMS distributors. The recommendation is in line with the practice already being followed in the mutual fund industry, wherein, mutual funds distributors are required to register with the AMFI and obtain an ARN for providing distribution services.
Moving on. India’s Adani Green Energy is likely to raise $500 million by issuing dollar bonds in March, two officials aware of the plans said, making it the first Adani group company to return to the overseas bond market in a year. A foreign banker who is part of the discussions said, quote, “The company is doing the groundwork and talking to investors to get a sense on pricing. Once there’s more clarity on pricing and demand, they will finalise the details and tap the market,” unquote. Part of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani‘s ports-to-power conglomerate, Adani Green is likely to use some of the proceeds from the proposed bond issue to refinance existing debt that will mature this year, the officials said.
Speaking of Adani, Moody’s Investor Group this week announced that it has revised the outlook on debt papers for four Adani Group companies, shifting from negative to stable. Simultaneously, the rating agency maintained a stable outlook for the remaining four companies and affirmed the ratings for all eight entities within the conglomerate. This move by Moody’s follows weeks after S&P Global Ratings upgraded the credit outlook for Adani Ports and Adani Electricity to ‘stable’ from ‘negative.’ In February 2023, Moody’s initially revised the outlook on four Adani Group companies to negative due to concerns over their access to capital and potential increases in capital costs following a report by Hindenburg Research, a short seller, highlighting governance concerns within the Adani Group.
Over to industry. State-owned Coal India Ltd this week said the Haryana government has evinced interest in buying electricity from the company’s proposed power plant in Odisha. Haryana is keen to ensure electricity availability to meet the expanding energy demand of the state. As per the MoU, power will be purchased under Section 62 of the Electricity Act, 2003. The MoU was inked in the presence of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. CIL is setting up a 4,000 MW ultra-supercritical thermal power plant, in two phases in Sundargarh district of Odisha, through MBPL. Last month, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its nod for setting up 1,600 MW capacity plant in the first phase.
Over to technology. Honor X9b officially launched in India this week. HTech’s second Honor smartphone in India after Honor 90 makes a case for durability while offering a decent spec sheet that includes a high-resolution 108-megapixel camera and big 5,800mAh battery. The Honor X9b has an “ultra-bounce anti-drop” display that comes equipped with shock-absorbing material making it resistant to drops up to 1.5 metres. Honor is guaranteeing 360-degree protection for all six faces and four corners, even if it falls on hard surfaces like marble. The phone is further 5-star certified by SGS Switzerland for drop resistance. Spec-wise, the Honor X9b has a 6.78-inch 120Hz curved AMOLED display with a 1.5K resolution and up to 1,200nits of peak brightness.
In other news, Chinese company, Build Your Dream Auto surpassed Tesla in global sales last year. The Shenzen-based EV company is now gearing up to launch its third car in India, the Seal EV, on March 5. Currently, the company’s portfolio consists of the Atto 3 and e6 MPV. BYD has already uploaded the Seal EV’s information on their official India website. The Seal EV’s cabin houses a 15.6-inch rotatable touchscreen infotainment system and a 10.25-inch digital driver’s instrument cluster. It gets an all-glass roof, heated front seats and advanced driver assistance features like Forward Collision Warning, Automatic Emergency Braking, Rear Collision Warning, etc.
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