Adani Enterprises launch bond sale for individuals; to raise Rs 8 bn

Adani Enterprises have launched their first bond sale for individual investors on Wednesday, with plans to raise up to Rs 8 billion ($ 95.3 million) and diversify funding base.

A total of 60 per cent amount is earmarked for retail and high net-worth investors, the prospectus of the sale stated, while 30 per cent is allocated for non-institutional buyers including corporates. Institutional investors will comprise 10 per cent.

Around 75 per cent of the proceeds will go into prepay or repay of company debt and the remaining amount is to be assigned towards corporate objectives.

The public issue, scheduled to close on September 17 this year, will have yields ranging from 9.25 per cent to 9.9 per cent, while bonds being offered in the issuance will be due in two, three and five years.

AK Capital Services, Nuvama Wealth Management and Trust Investment Advisors are the lead managers of the public issue.

Adani Enterprises had intended to launch a public issue worth Rs 10 billion in January 2023, but had to drop the plans in the wake of a damaging report published by the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research the same month.

In the 32,000-word report that contained 720 citations and ran into 106 pages, Hindenburg alleged that the Adani Group manipulated stocks and engaged in accounting fraud for decades. As a fallout of the report, Adani stocks witnessed a $150-billion slump. A strong public response to the new issuance would signal an overall confidence of the market in the Adani brand despite the Hindenburg Research report.

Earlier, in July, Adani Energy Solutions Limited raised $1 billion through a share sale marking the largest deal in the energy sector of the country. The power transmission arm of the Adani Group raised the amount through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) issue that witnessed oversubscription thrice over, with demand reaching Rs 26,000 crore. The issue, priced at Rs 976 per share, closed at Rs 1,135, marking a discount in listing of around 14 per cent.