Adani Group has pre-paid a total of $2.65 billion debt — including margin-linked share-backed financing and $500 million taken for acquisition of Holcim Group’s Indian assets — ahead of its committed deadline of March 31 .
Of the total, $2.15 billion was the share-backed financing, and the pre-payment is in line with the promoters’ commitment to increase equity contribution, Adani Group said in a statement late on Sunday.
“The entire prepayment programme has been completed within six weeks, which testifies the strong liquidity management and access to capital at sponsor level, supplementing the solid capital prudency adopted at all portfolio companies,” it said.
The promoters have also infused $2.6 billion into Ambuja Cement and ACC
The group, controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani, has been trying to reduce debt to regain investors’ faith following a report by short-seller Hindenburg Research in January, which resulted in nearly half of its market capitalisation being wiped off.
Hindenburg Research published findings of a two-year investigation, alleging that Adani Group had participated in market manipulation and accounting malpractices. It also accused the group of perpetrating “the largest con in corporate history”, engaging in “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades”. Hindenburg also revealed that it held short positions on Adani Group companies.
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Adani Group has denied the allegations.
In its largest-ever acquisition and India’s largest-ever M&A transaction in the infrastructure and materials space, Adani Group had acquired Switzerland-based Holcim Group’s stake in Ambuja Cement and ACC in September last year for $6.4 billion in cash. Holcim, through its subsidiaries, held 63.19% stake in Ambuja and 54.53% in ACC (of which 50.05% is held through Ambuja Cement).
The acquisition was conducted through a special purpose vehicle, Endeavour Trade and Investment, while promoters had pledged shares to raise funds for the acquisition.