Adani group pledges more shares of Transmission, Green Energy arms with SBI Trustee

A day after repaying share-backed financing worth ₹7,374 crore to release pledge on shares of promoters in four group companies, Adani group has pledged additional shares of Transmission and Green Energy arms with SBI Trustee Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Capital Markets Limited (SBICAP), which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of State Bank of India (SBI).

Promoter entities in Adani Transmission have pledged 85,26,000 shares, or 0.76% stake, to SBI Trustee "for the benefit of the lenders of Adani Enterprises". With this, a total of 1.32% of shares are pledged with SBI Trustee, as per  disclosures to the exchanges on Wednesday. The SBI Trustee release, however, did not mention the name of the promoter who pledged stake.

In Adani Green Energy, 1,56,65,500 shares, or 0.99%, have been pledged with SBI Trustee, taking the total to 2%.

Last month, Adani had prepaid $1.11 billion in loans ahead of maturity to release pledged shares in Adani Transmission, Adani Ports and SEZ, and Adani Green Energy, in order to restore investor confidence amid the recent selloff triggered by short-seller Hindenburg Research.

On Tuesday, Gautam Adani-led conglomerate said it prepaid share-backed financing of ₹7,374 crore ($902 million) to release a total of around 193 million shares of four Adani-listed company, ahead of its maturity in April 2025. This included around 155 million shares of Adani Ports & SEZ, representing 11.8% of the promoters’ holding; 31 million shares of Adani group flagship company Adani Enterprises, representing 4% of promoters’ holdings. Besides, Adani Transmission’s 36 million shares, representing 4.5% of promoters’ holding, and Adani Green Energy's 11 million shares, representing 1.2% of promoters’ holdings, were also released.

The prepayment of loans were followed by capital raising of ₹15,446 crore via the selling of minority stake in four of the listed firms to U.S.-based GQG Partners. On March 3, Australia-listed GQG Partners made investments worth ₹15,446 crore in four Adani group companies — Adani Ports and SEZ, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises — through secondary market transactions. Jefferies India Private Limited acted as a sole broker for the transaction. GQG acquired 3.4% stake in Adani Enterprises for about ₹5,460 crore, 4.1% in Adani Ports for ₹5,282 crore, 2.5% in Adani Transmission for ₹1,898 crore, and a 3.5% shares in Adani Green Energy for ₹2,806 crore.

The Adani group has almost $2 billion worth of foreign-currency bonds due for repayment in 2024. The conglomerate borrowed over $10 billion in foreign currency bonds between July 2015 and 2022, of which $1.15 billion of bonds matured in 2020 and 2022. The bonds worth $650 million of Adani Ports are due for payment in 2024, while $750 million and $500 million bonds of Adani Green Energy will mature next year.