The bridge loan has a tenor of six months and was part of the larger financing package of $5.25 billion, which included a $3 billion senior debt with a tenor of 18 months, a $1 billion mezzanine facility with tenor of 24 months and a $750 million loan against shares.
The short-term bridge loan is priced at SOFR (secured overnight financing rate) plus 450 bps and will mature in March, said the persons. The group is in talks with lenders including Barclays Bank, Deutsche Bank and StanChart to repay the bridge loan with cash this month, they said.
Refinancing Senior Debt
A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered were the underwriters of the loan while DBS, MUFG, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., First Abu Dhabi Bank, Intesa and Mizuho joined the financing consortium later.
The Adani Group was planning to replace the $3 billion senior tranche component, which has a tenor of 18 months, with a long-term financing facility from both onshore and offshore banks. However, the plan to refinance the senior tranche with a long-term bond or loan will be put on hold, said one of the persons cited above.
An Adani spokesperson declined to comment.
The Adani Group completed the acquisition of Holcim’s stakes in Ambuja Cements and ACC in September 2022. The group, which has an estimated debt of $30 billion, has been looking at ways to calm nervous investors.
Earlier this month, the group repaid a debt of $1.1 billion taken against pledged shares of three listed entities – Adani Ports, Adani Green and Adani Transmission – as group stocks have been facing selling pressure since the January 24 release of the Hindenburg Research report. The loans against shares were owed to a clutch of banks including JPMorgan, Barclays, Citigroup and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. It is looking to repay upcoming debt to calm investors following allegations of fraud and stock manipulation by Hindenburg Research that has wiped out over $100 billion in the valuation of its listed entities. The Adani Group has rejected the report and said it’s compliant with all laws.
On Monday, the Adani Group made a $19.7 million coupon payment on schedule on dollar-denominated bonds due 2030. Adani Green has to make a $16.4 million coupon payment on March 8. On Friday, Moody’s lowered the outlook on the bonds of Adani Green, Adani Transmission to negative from stable. It retained a stable rating on Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone.
