BENGALURU: As a report claimed that the conglomerate was looking to renegotiate the conditions of $4 billion in outstanding loans received last year to purchase cement producers ACC and Ambuja Cements, shares of Adani Group companies fell on Tuesday.
Adani Enterprises, the group’s flagship company, fell nearly 8% to a close to four-week low, while Adani Ports fell 9.2%.
ACC fell 4.8% to its lowest level since February 2021, while Ambuja Cement fell 4.2%.
According to sources cited by the Economic Times on Tuesday, the firm, led by billionaire Gautam Adani, has started talks with lenders to extend the 18-month term of its $3 billion bridging loan to five years or beyond.
Additionally, the business apparently wants to convert a further $1 billion tranche of mezzanine debt, which at the moment has a 24-month maturity, into senior secured debt with a five-year maximum payback period.
The initial goal was to refinance a significant amount of the loans using long-term bonds, but given the state of the market, a banker was quoted in the newspaper as noting that it appears tough.
Requests for comment from Reuters were not immediately answered by the Adani Group or its lenders Standard Chartered, Barclays, or Deutsche Bank.
In May of last year, the company paid $10.5 billion to Holcim AG to acquire the two cement businesses.
“If they ask for longer time to pay off the debt, it indicates that their cash flow is not strong. There will be delays in any expansion plans announced by Adani Ports, Adani Enterprises, or perhaps Adani Total during the next two years “said Profitmart Securities’ head of research Avinash Gorakshakar.
The investigation follows charges made against the conglomerate by short-seller Hindenburg in January that claimed it had destroyed more than $120 billion in market value of seven publicly traded Adani Group entities.
Adani Group shares has dropped between 22% and 80% since the release of the Hindenburg report.
