Adani seeks to woo bankers with three-day tour after short seller attack

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Indian tycoon Gautam Adani has invited bankers on a three-day trip next month to visit his conglomerate’s prized assets and restore confidence after a short seller accused his group of accounting fraud and stock price manipulation .

Adani offered lenders the opportunity to tour the new airport his group is building outside India’s financial capital Mumbai, as well as port and energy facilities in Mundra, Gujarat state, from June 8-10, according to an email seen by the Financial Times.

Guests were also invited to meet and dine with seniors Adani Group executives from a five-star hotel near Mumbai International Airport, according to the invitation email. Two people familiar with the matter have confirmed route details in Mumbai and Mundra. Adani declined to comment.

The initiative is the first trip of its kind organized by Adani since New York-based short seller Hindenburg Research published its report in January, which erased more than $100 billion from the market value of the Indian group’s listed companies. .

The ports-to-power group, which has denied the allegations, has since been forced to slow spending on new ventures and focus on reducing its debt, which stood at around $30 billion at the start of the year.

Adani’s rapid expansion over the past decade has been supported by loans from global banks including Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered. In the aftermath of the short seller’s report, analysts warned it could become more difficult for the group to secure funding from global institutions due to corporate governance issues.

“Even the banks would have become more cautious because there is an ongoing controversy,” said Arun Kumar, a retired economics professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. “I guess Adani would try to do everything possible to heal the relationship, to ease the uncertainty that surrounds their group at the moment.”

Adani had held similar events before the Hindenburg report and subsequent sale, albeit virtually during the pandemic, a person familiar with the company said.

The invitation also comes as two Adani companies – power unit Adani Transmission and flagship Adani Enterprises – seek to raise a total of $2.5 billion, issuing shares in a placement. privately or through other methods. The companies’ boards approved the plan last Saturday.

Earlier this year, Adani Enterprises had to cancel a $2.4 billion fundraising round following the publication of the Hindenburg report.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India, the country’s securities regulator, is investigating Adani over the allegations in the report, and the Supreme Court has appointed a panel to monitor his progress.

In March, the Supreme Court gave Sebi two months to complete its investigation, but the regulator asked for more time. Sebi said in an affidavit this week that any “premature conclusion to the case came without full facts. . . would be legally untenable.

Opposition politicians criticized the delay and Supreme Court justices on Wednesday asked Sebi to conclude the investigation by August 14, Reuters reported.