Gautam Adani-led Adani Group on Thursday clarified that none of the shares of Ambuja or ACC Cements have been pledged by promoters. This comes as ACC and Ambuja Cements' shares registered gains in early trading on February 2, while other Adani Group stocks continued to decline.
Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Adani Transmission, Adani Green Energy, Adani Power, and Adani Wilmar fell 5-10 per cent, on Thursday.
Adani Group said, "We have come across reports from various market sources with respect to Ambuja and our subsidiary ACC Ltd (ACC) claiming that shares of both Ambuja and ACC are pledged by Promoters as a part of the acquisition financing. Consequently, there are market rumors that amid market volatility, there is a requirement to meet the top-up triggers where in there is selling pressure."
"We would like to clarify that none of the shares of Ambuja or ACC have been pledged by Promoters. The Promoters have only provided non-disposal undertaking and accordingly, there is no requirement of providing any top-up of shares of Ambuja and ACC or cash top up under the acquisition financing raised last year," the statement said.
This comes a day after Adani Enterprises retracted its Follow-On Public Offering (FPO) of shares worth Rupees 20,000 crore, its chairman, Gautam Adani said that decision to withdraw the offering was considered after volatility seen in market and that “the board felt that it would not have been morally correct to proceed with FPO”.
“After a fully subscribed FPO, yesterday’s decision of its withdrawal would've surprised many. But considering the volatility of the market seen yesterday, the board strongly felt that it wouldn't be morally correct to proceed with FPO,” Adani said.
After acquiring the Holcim holding, the Adani group committed its whole stakes in Ambuja Cements (63.2 per cent) and in ACC (56.7 per cent), each valued at around Rs 96,800 crore, to Deutsche Bank's Hong Kong branch in September 2022.