New Delhi:
Adani Group firm Adani Ports and SEZ has repaid a loan of Rs 1,500 crore and promised to repay more as the beleaguered group chalks out a comeback strategy after a sell-off following a damning report by US-based Hindenburg Research.
A company spokesperson said Adani Ports and SEZ on Monday paid dues of Rs 1,500 crore to SBI Mutual Funds and another Rs 1,000 crore of commercial papers due in March will also be cleared.
“This part prepayment is from existing cash balances and funds generated from business operations,” the spokesperson said. “This underlines the confidence that the market has placed on the group’s prudent capital and liquidity management plan.”
The Apple-to-airport conglomerate is hoping to turn the narrative around with payback and calm jittery investors and lenders who were hit by allegations of accounting fraud and stock manipulation. The Adani Group has denied all the allegations.
The firm has already brought on Kekst CNC as a global communications consultant to help transform narrative creation in international media. It has also engaged US law firm Wachtel, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to fight against the short seller’s allegations.
Adani Group’s gross debt stood at Rs 2.26 lakh crore as of September 2022 and had cash of Rs 31,646 crore.
Adani Group is making utmost efforts to address the concerns of the investors regarding the loan. It has scrapped plans to acquire DB Power’s coal plant for over Rs 7,000 crore and is preparing a roadmap detailing the repayment schedule for existing debt.
APSEZ said on February 8 that it would repay Rs 5,000 crore of debt in the fiscal year starting April and the group would also repay a USD 500 million bridge loan next month.
Earlier this month, French oil major TotalEnergies said it would wait for the outcome of an independent audit before investing in Adani Group’s USD 50 billion plan to make green hydrogen.
According to Bernstein Research, Adani Green is capable of paying off all its Rs 22,000 crore debt in the fiscal year ending March 2025 if it divests some renewable energy assets, seeks fresh equity capital from existing investors, or cancels some planned projects. and refrains from bidding for the new one.
A spokesperson for the group, however, termed questions on the group’s ability to finance projects and refinance the debt as ‘baseless speculation’.
Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the rating outlook for four Adani group companies to negative from stable.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group company.)
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