Adani repays $2.15 billion loan taken pledging shares; prepays $500 million loan for Ambuja cement
The Hindu
The announcement comes within days of the group saying it has pre-paid ₹7,374 crore loans that were taken pledging shares in four group companies
Embattled Adani Group on March 12 said it has repaid loans aggregating $2.65 billion to complete a prepayment programme ahead of the March 31 deadline to cut overall leverage in an attempt to win back investor trust post a damning report of a U.S. short seller.
In a statement, Adani group said it has repaid $2.15 billion of loans that were taken by pledging shares in the conglomerate's listed firms and also another $500 million in loans taken for the acquisition of Ambuja Cement.
The announcement comes within days of the group saying it has pre-paid ₹7,374 crore (about $902 billion) loans that were taken pledging shares in four group companies. This has now been scaled up to $2.15 billion.
While Adani group has not detailed the source of money for repayment of loans, these came within days of the promoters selling minority stakes in four listed companies to U.S.-based GQG Partners for ₹15,446 crore.
"In continuation of promoters' commitment to repay the promoter leverage, Adani has completed full prepayment of margin linked share backed financing aggregating to $2.15 billion, well before the committed timeline of March 31, 2023," it said. "In addition to above, promoters have also prepaid a $500 million facility taken for Ambuja acquisition financing."
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This, it said, was in line with promoters' commitment to increase equity contribution and promoters have now infused $2.6 billion out of total acquisition value of $6.6 billion for Ambuja and ACC.