Exclusive-Adani made scheduled U.S. bond payments, to release credit report Friday -sources

By Aditya Kalra and Davide Barbuscia

NEW DELHI/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Adani Group entities made scheduled coupon payments on outstanding U.S. dollar-denominated bonds on Thursday, a bondholder and a source with direct knowledge of the Indian conglomerate's strategy told Reuters.

The payments were made as Adani Group, led by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, battles with a rout in its stocks in India and its U.S. bonds after last week's critical report on its business practices by U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited paid coupons, the two sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said. The source with knowledge of the firm's strategy said Adani Transmission also processed bond payments on Thursday.

Adani Group plans to issue a credit report by Friday which will address concerns raised by the Hindenburg report about its liquidity, the same source said.

The Adani Group did not respond to a request for comment.

Reuters calculations show that interest payments of a total of around $24 million were due on Feb. 2 on three bonds issued by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone due to mature in 2031, 2032 and 2041.

Brokerage CLSA estimated in a Jan, 26 report that consolidated debt of the top five Adani Group companies -- Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Adani Power, Adani Green and Adani Transmission, with some element of double counting – stood at 2.1 trillion Indian rupees ($25.60 billion).

Bank debt forms just 38% of the total debt, while "bonds/CP (commercial paper) constitute 37%" the CLSA note said.

Adani's fortune rose rapidly in recent years, but has plunged in just a week after U.S.-based Hindenburg published its critical research report on Jan. 24.

Although Adani has said it always complied with all disclosures, the repercussions have knocked $100 billion off the market capitalization of the group's seven Indian-listed stocks.

The conglomerate's dollar bonds slipped further into losses on Thursday, a day after its flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd called off a $2.5 billion share sale in a shock move.

Adani Green's bonds maturing in September 2024 led the losses, falling 11.69 cents, to 60.56 cents, their lowest since issuance.

The U.S. dollar-denominated bonds of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Transmission and Adani Electricity Mumbai were also trading lower.

Adani "will issue a detailed credit report by tomorrow evening close of business which will address the issues that from (a) credit point of view there is no liquidity (issue), no cash (issue), no other issue," the source with direct knowledge of the Adani group's thinking said.

Coupon payments for bonds will "continue as normal," the source added, saying these had nothing to do with share price falls or the group's current challenges.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Davide Barbuscia; Additional reporting by Shankar Ramakrishnan; Editing by Alexander Smith)