India's Adani Group plans $84 billion infra spend over next decade

By Dhwani Pandya and Bhakti Tambe

MUMBAI (Reuters) -India's Adani Group plans to spend 7 trillion rupees ($84.00 billion) over the next decade on infrastructure projects, Chief Financial Officer Jugeshinder Singh said on Friday.

"Our capex will go up to run and develop infrastructure," Singh said, without elaborating on the type of projects the company would undertake.

The port-to-power conglomerate runs India's largest private port and is also developing and managing several airports and roads.

The billionaire Gautam Adani-led group will also decide on divesting its stake in Adani Wilmar, its joint venture (JV) with Singapore's Wilmar International, in the next three months, Singh said on the sidelines of the Trust group event in Mumbai.

Adani Group holds a 44% stake in the JV and has been considering a potential stake sale for a few months, Bloomberg News reported earlier, adding that Gautam Adani and his family may retain a minority stake in a personal capacity.

Adani Wilmar posted a second consecutive quarterly loss in November.

Shares of Adani Group companies are recovering after a Jan. 24 report by Hindenburg Research raised concerns over debt levels and the use of tax havens, wiping out nearly $147 billion in market capitalization from its listed entities.

The conglomerate has denied all allegations.

When asked if the company's cost of funds has risen since the Hindenburg allegations, Singh said that the weighted average cost of capital for core infra business has always remained between 9.25-9.50%.

FUNDRAISING PLAN

Around 80% of the company's long-duration capital comes from the global capital market, while remaining 20% of shorter-duration capital comes from domestic market, Singh said.

Among Adani Group companies, Adani Ports and SEZ, Adani Green Energy, Adani Power and within Adani Enterprises, airports and roads may tap the domestic bond market in near future.

Singh, however, did not give any further details on quantum or timeline. The group may also look at public issue of bonds from February.

Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission may tap the overseas bond market and issue Regulation-S and Regulation-D bonds in 2024.

Adani Green Energy will need to raise $350 million of notes to refinance existing debt that will mature in December 2024, Singh added.

($1 = 83.3299 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dhwani Pandya and Bhakti Tambe in Mumbai; Writing by Sethuraman NR and Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Sohini Goswami and Varun H K)