Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s renewable energy unit is considering raising about 123 billion rupees ($1.5 billion) to fund his coal-dependent conglomerate’s green diversification, people familiar with the matter said, following the fallout from a damaging short-seller broadside.
Adani Green Energy Ltd.’s board will discuss plans to raise funds from institutional investors on Thursday and will then seek approval from shareholders, the people said, asking not to be identified as the talks are private.
By selling shares through qualified institutional placement, or QIP, Adani Green is looking to bring on board more institutional investors and attract more research analysts to cover the firm, said one of the people. Only one analyst currently tracks the company, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Shares of Adani Green rose as much as 1.7% in Mumbai, the most in two weeks, after the Bloomberg News story, valuing the company at about $18 billion.
Deliberations are ongoing and details of the fundraising, including size, could still change, the people said. An Adani Group representative couldn’t immediately comment when reached by phone.
The tycoon’s conglomerate has already announced fundraising plans of as much as $2.6 billion for two other companies — Adani Enterprises Ltd. and Adani Transmission Ltd. — as it attempts a comeback from the crisis triggered by Hindenburg Research. The US-based short-seller in January leveled fraud allegations against Adani Group, which has denied any wrongdoing. The report wiped out more than $150 billion from the conglomerate’s market value at one point.
A possible equity fundraising could cover Adani Green’s 2024 bond maturities, including $750 million of holding company-issued bonds which might be hard to refinance, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sharon Chen wrote in a note on Thursday.
--With assistance from Dong Lyu.
(Adds Adani Green’s share move in fourth paragraph and BI analyst comment in last paragraph.)
