Adani loosens its fundraising straitjacket

Adani Green Energy

12/12/2025 08:20

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions expressed are her own.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, Dec 12(Reuters Breakingviews) - The Adani group's rehabilitation continues. The flagship firm of Indian tycoon Gautam Adani's infrastructure conglomerate has raised 250 billion rupees ($2.77 billion) through a rights issue, the group’s largest equity raise since it was hit by a brutal short attack in early 2023. The transaction signals easing access to local markets.

    Since the short attack, Adani entities have raised at least $1.5 billion through share placements with institutions. The rights issue is the first time it is testing wider appetite. At 1,800 rupees a share on November 11, the deal was priced at a hefty 24% discount to the day's closing level. Around three-fourths of the proceeds will go towards repaying Adani Enterprises' ADEL.NS borrowings from other group entities and lenders including State Bank of India SBI.NS.

It helped too that Adani Enterprises' earnings are now better matched to its valuation: The shares trade at 52 times forward earnings, punchy but about one-third the multiple they fetched in early 2023. The offering also provided a chance for investors to pile in ahead of a planned listing in 2027 of the company's airports business, which generates 10% of Adani Enterprises topline.

    To be sure, the hurdles to Gautam Adani's ambitious
    expansion plans
     are far from over. The U.S. Justice Department accuses renewable power producer Adani Green Energy ADNA.NS and its founder of bribery, which the group rejects. That
     hinders its access to international creditors: global banks hold 23% of the group's debt, down from 27% in September 2024.

Adani Enterprises remains as tightly held as it was two years ago and there's little sign of that changing. Many Indian investors still shun the group which has risen rapidly under Prime Minister Narendra Modi on fears of how its fortunes might turn if there was a change of government, but that concern also existed before the short attack. At least Adani Enterprises' shareholders are willing to look past those thorny issues.

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CONTEXT NEWS

Adani Enterprises on December 10 announced the completion of a rights issue of up to 250 billion rupees ($2.77 billion), the infrastructure conglomerate's biggest equity fundraising since a short attack in January 2023.

Adani's holdings in group firms are near pre-Hindenburg levels https://www.reuters.com/graphics/BRV-BRV/zgvoyjrxavd/chart.png

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/shritama.bose@thomsonreuters.com))