Adani Enterprises' ₹20,000-crore FPO for capex, debt repayment to open on 27 Jan

Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of ports-to-energy conglomerate Adani Group, said it would raise ₹20,000 crore in follow-on public offering of new shares, which is being touted as the country's biggest FPO.

The Adani Group's flagship company has filed papers with capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Monday for the FPO.

The FPO will open for subscription on 27 January and close on 31 January.

The company will issue shares on a partly paid basis. The anchor investor bidding date for the FPO has been fixed on 25 January.

However, Adani Enterprises' prospectus didn't specify a price band for the follow-on sale of shares.

The company is waiting for the approval of merchant bankers involved in this follow-on public offer, a source told Mint.

On share sale proceeds

The Adani Group company will use the proceeds of the FPO for capital expenditure requirements and pay off some debt of its units. The company will use ₹10,869 crore out of the ₹20,000-crore to fund green hydrogen projects, airports facilities and greenfield expressways, the firm said in its latest prospectus.

The company will also use ₹4,165 crore to repay the borrowings of three of its units, Adani Airport Holdings Ltd, Adani Road Transport Ltd, and Mundra Solar Ltd.

In November last year, Adani Enterprises' Board of Directors had approved a decision to raise funds aggregating up to ₹20,000 crore through FPO and plans to dilute 3.5% stake through the FPO. Currently, the promoter group holds 72.63% stake in the company.

"For retail investors perspective that it will be a good opportunity to buy stocks in the FPO at a discounted valuation since the stock has done remarkably well in past, entering into new businesses and expanding its business at a rapid pace," said Girish Sodani, Head of Equity Market at Swastika Investmart Ltd.

"FPO is generally value added in compare to invest in IPOs because investors get an idea about the company stock, result performances, business practices, growth projections and most important that investor very familiar with the stock and its price range," Sodani said.

Reports suggest IDBI Capital, Jefferies, ICICI Securities, SBI Capital, Bank of Baroda Capital and Elara Capial have been appointed as bankers for the FPO.

The proposed fundraiser comes amid some concerns about its elevated debt levels and large promoter shareholding.

Debt research firm CreditSights, part of the Fitch Group, had previously said Adani would continue to seek strategic equity partners after flagging concerns over the group's elevated debt levels.

Adani Ent stock

Shares of Adani Enterprises were 1.21% lower at ₹3,594.95 on the BSE in Wednesday's late afternoon deals. The stock has jumped nearly 130% in 2022 and in the last one month, the stock price of Adani Enterprises has dipped 14% ahead of its FPO.

FPOs are done by already listed companies to diversify their equity shareholding. The previous largest FPO was a ₹15,000 crore share sale in 2020 by Yes Bank.