Adani Enterprises raises $500 mn in primary equity to fund growth plans

Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL), the flagship firm of the conglomerate helmed by Gautam Adani, on Thursday said it has raised Rs 4,200 crore in share sale to large investors via a qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue to fund its future growth plans.

The firm allocated 1.41 crore equity shares to qualified institutional buyers at an issue price of Rs 2,962 per equity share, it said in a statement.

"The transaction was launched post-market hours on October 9, 2024 with a deal size of approximately Rs 4,200 crore ($ 500 million) and closed on October 15, 2024," it said.

The QIP saw overwhelming demand, receiving bids of approximately 4.2x of the deal size from a diverse group of investors, including global long-only investors, major Indian mutual funds and insurance companies.

A QIP is, at its core, a way for listed companies to raise capital without having to submit legal paperwork to market regulators.

Adani Enterprises had in January last year planned to raise Rs 20,000 crore through the country's largest Follow-on Public Offer (FPO) by selling shares between Rs 3,112 and Rs 3,276 per share.

Just before the FPO opened, Hindenburg Research came out with a damning report against the group, which sent the stock prices plummeting.

Though the FPO received a full subscription, the company called off the sale and returned the money.

Vodafone Idea's recent Rs 18,000 crore fundraise is the largest FPO in India.

Adani Enterprises said the successful QIP underscores its position as India's largest listed incubator of scalable and large businesses in core infrastructure which addresses the needs of India.

Its current incubation portfolio includes airports and roads in the transport and logistics sector, new energy ecosystem (including solar and wind manufacturing) and data centres in the energy and utility sector.

The firm's other businesses, including copper, PVC, defence and specialised manufacturing, focus on import substitution and address India's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

"The proceeds from the QIP will be utilised for funding capital expenditure, debt repayment and general corporate purposes," it said.

SBI Capital Markets Limited, Jefferies India Private Limited and ICICI Securities Limited were the book-running lead managers for the issue.

Further Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. acted as an advisor in connection with the issue. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas acted as Legal Counsel to AEL as to Indian law and Trilegal and Latham & Watkins LLP acted as Legal Counsels to the BRLMs as to Indian law and International law, respectively.