Adani holds Singapore meeting for first dollar bond since crisis

The Adani Group headquarters in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023. Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg (Bloomberg)

By Harry Suhartono and Saikat Das

(Bloomberg) — Adani Group met with investors in Singapore, marketing an overseas bond for the first time since weathering the rout caused by shortseller Hindenburg Research a year ago.

An executive arrived at an office tower overlooking the city state’s Marina Bay in a black van on Wednesday, the first stop on a tour of international financial hubs to win over buyers for roughly $409 million of new debt. Hong Kong is on the itinerary for Thursday.

The Marina Bay Financial Center, site of the Adani investor meeting. Photographer: Ore Huiying/Bloomberg (Bloomberg)

Hindenburg’s accusations of fraud and malfeasance published in early 2023 — repeatedly denied by the company — initially cast a pall over the fundraising efforts of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s sprawling conglomerate and prompted concerns it would have to pay a premium when next borrowing funds.

But the empire, whose operations include everything from ports to airports, data centers and solar parks, has since won new equity capital and trimmed debt. Adani last year also successfully completed a $3.5 billion debt refinancing package and said it lined up the money to pay back its $750 million security due in September.

The debt being marketed to investors in Singapore to be would have a tenor of 18 years, with the funds earmarked for redeeming $500 million of notes maturing in December. Renewables unit Adani Green Energy Ltd. and other group companies are listed on the mandate, published earlier this week.

Fitch Ratings expects to grade the new bonds at BBB-, at the low end of investment grade. That’s still higher than notes they’re replacing, which had a tenor of only five years.

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