MUMBAI: Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani is seeking to sell a stake in Ambuja Cements, which he had acquired from Switzerland’s Holcim last year, the Financial Times reported on Friday. He has made a formal request to international lenders to sell 4-5% of Ambuja Cements worth about $450 million, the report said.
Adani Group did not respond to TOI’s request for comment. Adani owns 63% of Ambuja Cements. Within weeks of closing the deal, the group had borrowed a large sum of money against the cement producer’s shares and offered an undertaking to lenders that he will not dispose of his stake in the company. All the lenders were foreign banks.
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If Adani sells a stake in Ambuja Cements, it will be his group’s first asset divestment after the damning Hindenburg report. While Hindenburg had flagged concerns about the Adani Group’s high debt, the business tycoon has maintained that servicing the conglomerate’s Rs 2. 3-lakh-croredebt will not be an issue.
In Friday’s market, the Ambuja Cements stock on the BSE closed 1. 7% down, while ACC was down 0. 7%. The day’s session was another mixed bag for the group’s 10 stocks, three of which closed at the 5% upper circuit, while one closed at the 5% lower circuit.
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The group’s market cap inched up further, by another Rs 7,799 crore to Rs 9. 3 lakh crore, BSE data collated by TOIshowed. In the last eight sessions, the group’s market value has gone up by nearly Rs 2. 5 lakh crore. However, it’s still Rs 9. 9 lakh crore off its pre-Hindenburg market cap level of Rs 19. 2 lakh crore.
Adani had acquired Ambuja Cements and its arm ACC for $6. 5 billion in September 2022. Leading bourses NSE and BSE on Friday said Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas will be put under the second stage of the long term additional surveillance measures framework.
