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The persons said that apart from domestic financial institutions, the group has held talks with investors and lenders from West Asia, Europe and Japan for a private placement to refinance the loan.
The development comes in the backdrop of the group scrapping its $1.2-billion offshore bond issuance plans in the last week of November following an indictment of group founder Gautam Adani and other executives by the US Department of Justice, and other uncertainties including one regarding coupon rates in the international market.
“There are multiple levers available for AGEL. After adjusting for additional costs such as hedging, the rates in domestic markets are better,” one of the persons said, adding that while refinancing looks more feasible currently, the dollar market (for any potential bond issuance) can be evaluated once more “clarity emerges”.
“While the dollar market offers higher tenures, domestic institutions are also offering meaningful long tenures of 10-15 years for extending the refinancing facility,” said the first person.
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Even as the refinancing plans are yet to be formalised, the two persons said the promoters also have an option to infuse equity into AGEL by converting some of their warrants worth about ₹7,000 crore. “If the market turns volatile and the promoter infusion happens, the refinance amount may vary,” said the first person.
The two persons said the Adani Green projects for which the $1.1 billion loans were taken—from a group of overseas banks—are mostly backed by assured cashflows from PPAs (power purchase agreements) of 25 years, which makes the group prefer longer tenure refinancing facilities.
“The present credit facility (which is planned to be refinanced) is short term, so pricing may not be that relevant. We have an option to refinance in the domestic market at 8.5% and international bank market at 9%,” said the first person.
An email sent to Adani Group remained unanswered till press time.
Why Adani is looking for refinancing
Through the planned refinancing, the group aims to release a part of the existing $3.5-billion overseas revolving credit facility so that it can enhance this foreign credit limit to around $5 billion or more. This can happen if the refinancing is done either through domestic banks or private placement.
Without refinancing the existing loans, the funding may get interrupted and the group’s existing projects under execution may get hindered. Also, it is crucial for the group to release a portion of the revolving credit facility so that long-term financing is available to smoothly proceed with the project work.
To be sure, Adani Group has set an ambitious renewable energy portfolio target of 50GW by 2030, of which around 11.8 GW of projects, mostly in Rajasthan and Gujarat, are under execution.
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According to the latest financials, AGEL has cash of $1.3 billion as of September-end, and an operating income of around $1.4 billion. “The equity for the 50GW target is in place through internal accruals,” said the first person.
On Wednesday, Adani Green shares closed 2.39% down at ₹1,148.10 on BSE.
The background
In the runup to the March 2025 repayment, Adani Group has been facing questions regarding an indictment by a court in the US. On 25 November, Gautam Adani was indicted by the US Department of Justice for his alleged involvement in a $265 million scheme to bribe certain Indian officials for getting business under Adani Green.
The group has denied the allegations that included directors of Adani Green.
On 6 December, brokerage JP Morgan assigned an ‘overweight’ rating to four Adani Group bonds and ruled out “any signs of stress” for the conglomerate, saying most of them have a leverage less than five times.
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JP Morgan said the key to watch among the bond-issuing entities is mainly Adani Green, which has a loan size of $1.1 billion due in March 2025.
The report added that AGEL’s debt mix mostly includes offshore debt, including bonds and loans. Adani Green has about 44% exposure to offshore debt as of the end of financial year 2024 (FYE24), while APSEZ (Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited) has about 82%, mostly via dollar bonds.
To be sure, Mint reported on 25 November that from an overall group perspective, half of the Adani Group’s ₹2.38-trillion long-term debt has been borrowed from overseas.
After the US indictment, the Adani Group is actively planning ways to convince investors and banks globally for feasible fund-raising terms, said a person close to a bank that has held discussions with the group.
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