Adani Enterprises (AEL), the flagship firm of the energy-to-airports Adani Group, on Thursday said that its board had approved the demerger of its food and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) businesses. These verticals will now merge into Adani Wilmar. The move will see the promoter stake fall in Adani Wilmar in line with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) guidelines, sector analysts said.
AEL, which holds a 43.94% stake in Adani Wilmar through promoter entity Adani Commodities, will transfer the stake to existing public shareholders of Adani Wilmar in a scheme of arrangement that will see AEL shareholders receiving 251 shares of Adani Wilmar for every 500 shares held by them. The record date of the transaction is yet to be announced.
“This demerger is in line with AEL’s incubation strategy which includes demerging the business once it is self-sustained and properly established. In the past, AEL has demerged businesses including Adani Green Energy, Adani Energy Solutions (Adani Transmission earlier), etc., once they became self-sustaining,” a group source said.
No cash consideration is payable under the proposed scheme.
Post the transaction, the promoter stake in Adani Wilmar will fall to 76.76% from 87.87% currently, while public shareholding will increase to 23.24% from 12.13%, sector experts said.
Sebi guidelines require that large firms must have at least 25% of shares available to the public within three years of the date of the listing of a company.
Adani Wilmar was listed in February 2022 and the Adani Group had time till February next year to pare its shareholding in the firm, analysts said.
Also, Adani Wilmar, which was formed as a joint venture company between the Adani Group and the Singapore-based Wilmar Group in 1999, will cease to be a JV of the former following the transaction.
The food and FMCG verticals and other businesses of Adani Enterprises are capable of attracting a different set of investors, strategic partners, lenders and other stakeholders, Adani Enterprises said in a statement on Thursday.
“In order to lend greater focus to the operation of the said (food and FMCG) business, it is proposed to reorganise and segregate the food and FMCG business by way of demerger and transfer the same to the resulting company (Adani Wilmar),” the statement added.
Adani Enterprises further said that the proposed demerger would unlock the direct value of the firm to Adani Enterprises’ shareholders and also provide scope for independent collaboration and expansion.