Adani Group In Discussion To Raise Rs 1,498 Crore Via Bond Market: Report

The Adani Airport Holdings and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone are in discussions with merchant bankers to issue up-to-five-year bonds as soon as September, the report said.

Adani Group subsidiaries are looking to raise over Rs 1,498 crore each through domestic bond market. The Adani Airport Holdings and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone are in discussions with merchant bankers to issue up-to-five-year bonds as soon as September, reported Reuters on Friday. The move is part of Gautam Adani-led conglomerates' effort to raise over Rs 10,000 crore during the current fiscal year. 

The news agency report also noted that the Adani group is considering getting back into the domestic bond markets after taking a long pause since January. This was after the US short-seller Hindenburg Research report raised concerns regarding the firm's governance and alleged stock manipulation, triggering a sell-off in the group's shares. The Ports-to-Power group repeatedly denied all the allegations. 

On Friday, the report citing a company official and three bankers said that with this plan Adani Group plans to test investors' appetite for its bonds and will tap the market only when there will be a comfort of demand

Adani Airport Holdings and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone might be the first to approach the market by offering bonds worth  Rs 1,000-1,500 crore, a banker told the news agency.

Another banker said that the flagship firm Adani Enterprises along with Adani Electricity Mumbai, are also discussing the possibility of borrowing money. However, the exact plans will be decided after the market regulator SEBI comes out with its report on the investigation into Hindenburg's allegations. The report is expected by Monday, a second banker told Reuters. 

"Post that, all these fundraising plans may start getting finalised as initial talks have already started," he said. 

Initially, the group companies might need to offer a higher interest rate than their previous bond issuance, noted the third banker. It might take some time for domestic institutional investors to invest in these bonds. Demand could come from companies, wealthy individuals, and certain banks, he said, as per the report. 

Adani Enterprises returned to the market earlier in July to raise Rs 12,500 crore through three-year bonds, but the interest costs went up to 10 per cent. Notably, the last time Adani Ports raised funds from the market was in October 2021 when they obtained Rs 1,000 crore by issuing 3-year bonds with an interest rate of 6.25 per cent.