Adani Energy share sale receives three-fold bids as buyers pile in

By P R Sanjai and Baiju Kalesh

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s power transmission unit has received bids that are more than three times of the amount the company plans to raise from a share sale, signaling strong investor interest.

Indian and international institutions have oversubscribed to Adani Energy Solutions Ltd.’s $1 billion share sale through the so-called qualified institutional placement, or QIP, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. 

This share sale marks the first equity fundraising by a unit of the Adani Group following the damaging report released by short-seller Hindenburg Research in January 2023 alleging widespread corporate malfeasance by the conglomerate. Adani Group has repeatedly denied these allegations. It also came on the heels of another $1 billion share sale by Vedanta Ltd. earlier in July. 

The planned $1 billion share sale comprises of a base issue size of $700 million and an option to raise the rest. The shares are offered at an indicative price of 976 rupees, according to the terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg News.

The Adani Group didn’t immediately reply to Bloomberg’s request for comment. 

Bloomberg reported last week Adani Energy will raise at least $600 million through the share sale and has picked domestic investment banks to work on it. 

Adani Energy is India’s largest private sector power utility and operates more than 21,100 circuit kilometers of transmission lines, according to its website. The company has a target of ramping up to 30,000 ckm by 2030 by tapping both organic and inorganic growth opportunities, it said.