Billionaire Adani group’s refinancing risks ebb on earnings lift

India’s Adani Group said cash balances have improved and it sees no refinancing risks in the near term as the conglomerate took more steps to shore up its finances following a withering short seller attack last year.

The group’s Ebitda, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose more than 60 per cent to 194.75 billion rupees ($2.3 billion) in the third quarter ended Dec. 31 with a bulk of that coming from the transport, infrastructure and energy units of the conglomerate. The group reported an Ebitda of $9.5 billion for the nine months to Dec. 31.

The port-to-power conglomerate said there were “no material refinancing risk and near-term liquidity requirement,” adding “near term debt maturities have been fully funded.”

The latest numbers, posted in a statement Thursday, cement the trajectory reported in the preceding quarter. Led by billionaire Gautam Adani, the group had seen its net debt drop by 3.5 per cent to $21.72 billion in the six months through September alongside a fresh equity raise of close to $5 billion.

Cash balances have improved. The balances can fund long term debt repayments for more than 15 months with portfolio level cash balances at $5.36 billion as on Dec. 31, it said.

The conglomerate has often criticized in the recent years for its debt-fueled growth frenzy. That debt raising spree ground to a halt in January 2023 when short-seller Hindenburg Research published a scathing report alleging wide-ranging corporate fraud that forced the conglomerate into months of damage control.

The Adani Group denied all of Hindenburg’s allegations.

Adani companies have been steadily clawing back lost ground after in the past few months after trimming debt, securing new marquee backers, including GQG Partners LLC and doing extensive outreach with its investors. It also got funding from a US-backed agency for its Sri Lanka port terminal in December and a reprieve from India’s top court in January that said no further probes were needed into the Adani Group off the Hindenburg saga.

As the Adani Group draws a line under the short-seller episode, it is doubling down on its landmark infrastructure projects such as redeveloping Mumbai’s Dharavi slum, plowing on in new businesses and planning to spend as much as $100 billion on its green transition over the next decade.