Adani is said to plan raising $1.2 billion for flagship firm

(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Gautam Adani’s flagship firm is considering raising around 100 billion rupees ($1.2 billion) to 120 billion rupees through a share sale, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that would follow a separate recent fundraising deal at his power transmission unit.

Adani Enterprises Ltd. may seek to raise funds through a so-called qualified institutional placement, or QIP, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The port-to-power conglomerate is working with banks on a share sale that could take place as early as September, the people said. 

Adani Group is seeking institutional investors including from the US as part of its efforts to expand its shareholder base and draw more research analysts to cover the firm, one of the people said. IFR had earlier reported on the fundraising plan.

Deliberations are ongoing and details of the fundraising including size and timing may change, the people said. An Adani Group representative couldn’t immediately comment when reached by phone.

Adani Enterprises in May approved raising as much as 166 billion rupees through methods including a share sale to institutions in one or more tranches.

The transaction would follow Adani Energy Solutions Ltd.’s 83.7 billion-rupee share sale to institutional investors last week. Adani Energy’s offering saw demand of about six times the base deal size with interest from utility-focused US investors entering India for the first time, as well as sovereign wealth funds and insurers.

A successful fundraising deal by Adani Enterprises would help the billionaire’s group recover confidence from global investors after US short-seller Hindenburg Research accused it of widespread fraud and corporate malfeasance in early 2023, leading to a rout that at one point erased more than $150 billion from its market value. Adani has repeatedly denied these claims.

In another sign of the group’s rebound after the short seller attack, Adani Enterprises last week posted a 115% jump in quarterly profit, boosted by solid revenues at its airports and mining businesses.