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The Adani group, buoyed by a sharp recovery in its share prices over the past year, is set to embark on a series of roadshows this week to raise up to $4 billion (approximately Rs 33,254 crore) through equity and refinancing of older debt, according to banking sources.
The roadshows, scheduled to take place in major cities, will inform investors about the group’s investment plans across renewable energy, petrochemicals, and infrastructure development.
Representatives of several West Asian sovereign funds have already met with the group's senior executives and received updates on the progress at Navi Mumbai airport, which is due for commissioning by the end of the year.
On Monday, the board of electricity transmission firm Adani Energy Solutions approved plans to raise Rs 12,500 crore through a qualified institutional placement or other permissible instruments.
The board of Adani Enterprises will meet on Tuesday to consider a proposal for raising funds by issuing equity shares or other eligible securities, including a private placement, a qualified institutions placement, a preferential issue, or any other method.
When contacted, an Adani group spokesperson declined to comment.
The return of Adani group companies to the equity market comes nearly a year and a half after the group’s flagship, Adani Enterprises, withdrew its Rs 20,000 crore follow-on offer in January last year.
This followed a report by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research that led to a sharp fall in the share prices of group companies.
The group denied the allegations against it in the report, and a subsequent investigation by the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, found no merit in them.
Adani group shares, which had crashed following the Hindenburg Research report in January 2023, recovered after the promoters sold their shares in various group companies to GQG Partners and pre-paid their loans.
Various Adani group companies also pre-paid their loans, thus convincing investors about their financial position.
The Adani Enterprises’ shares closed at Rs 3,288 apiece on Monday while Adani Energy Solutions’ stock closed at Rs 1,104.
Bankers said the group’s flagship recently received approvals from Indian banks to raise up to Rs 17,000 crore for its petrochemical business.
It would require additional funds for its other infrastructure businesses, including airports.
The flagship’s strategic business investments also include a green hydrogen ecosystem, airport management, data centres, roads, and primary industries like copper and petrochemicals -- all of which have significant scope for value unlocking, the group told analysts after its fourth-quarter results.
In a report last week, Cantor Fitzgerald said India is one of the fastest-growing economies and is heavily investing across a range of end-markets to support continued economic growth.
This, it said, bodes well for Adani Enterprises, as it touches nearly every aspect of life in India.
“From a bottoms-up point of view, we believe Adani (Enterprises)’s valuation does not fully reflect what we believe the value of its current portfolio of established and incubating businesses to be.
"As these businesses continue to grow and mature, and as the demerging of businesses within Adani approaches, we believe this will result in shares more accurately reflecting what Adani's sum-of-the-parts valuation is,” Cantor Fitzgerald analysts wrote in a note on May 22.
