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 amortisation rose more than 60 per cent to US$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 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 on Thursday (Feb 29), 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 US$21.72 billion in the six months through September, alongside a fresh equity raise of close to US$5 billion.
Cash balances have improved. The pile can fund long term debt repayments for more than 15 months with portfolio level cash balances at US$5.36 billion as on Dec 31, it said.
The conglomerate has often criticised in recent years for its debt-fuelled 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 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 US$100 billion on its green transition over the next decade. BLOOMBERG
