Adani Group pre-pays over Rs 7,300 crore worth share-backed financing

Promoters of the group's flagship firm, Adani Enterprises will release 31 million shares, or a 4 per cent stake

Embattled conglomerate Adani said on Tuesday it prepaid share-backed financing of Rs 7,374 crore ($901.16 million), as part of its promoters' commitment to cut overall leverage backed by shares of the Group's listed companies.

The billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Group has been looking to ease concerns about its credit profile after a US-based short seller noted high debt and alleged improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation, which Adani denied.

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Lenders will release 31 million pledged shares of Adani Enterprises, worth a 4 per cent stake in the company, and 155 million shares, worth an 11.8 per cent stake, of Adani Ports, the group said in a statement on Tuesday.

Lenders will also release pledged shares equivalent to a 1.2 per cent and 4.5 per cent stake in Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission, respectively.

In a similar move, the group in February pre-paid $1.11 billion. With Tuesday's repayment, the group has so far repaid around $2.02 billion of share-backed financing, it said.

Last week, Reuters reported that the conglomerate told creditors creditors it had secured a $3 billion loan from a sovereign wealth fund.

That was shortly followed by a $1.87 billion stake purchase from Australia-listed and Florida-based investment firm GQG Partners Inc in the four group companies mentioned earlier, whose shares have since risen between 10.2 per cent to 23.4 per cent so far.

GQG's founder Rajiv Jain will meet clients and investors in Australia this week to explain its investment in the Adani group, the company said in a separate statement on Tuesday.