Adani seeks to woo bankers with three-day tour after short seller’s attack

Indian tycoon Gautam Adani has invited bankers on a three-day trip next month to tour his conglomerate’s prized assets and restore confidence after a short seller accused his group of accounting fraud and stock price manipulation.

Adani has offered lenders a chance to visit the new airport his group is building outside India’s financial capital Mumbai, as well as port and energy facilities in Mundra, in the state of Gujarat, from June 8 to 10, according to an email viewed by the Financial Times.

Guests have also been invited to meet and dine with senior Adani Group executives at a five-star hotel near Mumbai’s international airport, according to the invitation email. Two people familiar with the matter confirmed details of the itinerary in Mumbai and Mundra. Adani declined to comment.

The initiative is the first trip of its kind hosted by Adani since New York-based short seller Hindenburg Research published its report in January, which wiped more than $100bn from the market value of the Indian group’s listed companies.

The ports-to-power group, which has denied the allegations, has since been forced to slow down spending on new businesses and focus on cutting down its debt pile, which stood at about $30bn at the beginning of the year.

Adani’s rapid expansion in the past decade has been supported by loans from global banks, including Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered. In the aftermath of the short seller’s report, analysts warned that it could become more difficult for the group to secure financing from global institutions because of corporate governance concerns.

“Even banks would have become more cautious because there’s a controversy going on,” said Arun Kumar, a retired economics professor at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University. “I suppose Adani would try and do everything possible to heal the relationships, to quell the uncertainty that’s surrounding their group at the moment.”

Adani had hosted similar events before the Hindenburg report and the subsequent sell-off, albeit virtually during the pandemic, a person close to the company said.

The invitation also comes as two Adani companies — electricity unit Adani Transmission and flagship Adani Enterprises — are seeking to raise a combined $2.5bn, by issuing shares in a private placement or by other methods. The companies’ boards approved the plan last Saturday.

Earlier in the year, Adani Enterprises had to call off a $2.4bn fundraising following the release of the Hindenburg report.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India, the country’s securities regulator, is investigating Adani over allegations in the report, and the Supreme Court has appointed a panel to monitor its progress.

The Supreme Court in March gave Sebi two months to complete its probe, but the regulator asked for more time. Sebi said in an affidavit this week that any “premature conclusion of the case arrived at without full facts . . . would be legally untenable”.

Opposition politicians have criticised the delay, and Supreme Court judges on Wednesday asked Sebi to wrap up the investigation by August 14, Reuters reported.