Mumbai: Through secondary deals, the Adani family sold Adani Power shares worth more than Rs 8,700 crore ($1.1 billion) on Wednesday. S-based GQG Partners, who invested nearly Rs 35,000 crore ($4.2 billion) in several Adani companies since early March, bought about half of the equities.
Adani Power is the fifth business of the conglomerate in which GQG has made an investment as a result of Hindenburg’s accusations against the group. Rajiv Jain, an Indian-born co-founder of GQG, manages $92 billion in assets as of the company’s co-founding in June 2016. GQG is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. It also owns shares of Adani Enterprises, Adani Green, Adani Transmission, and Adani Ports in addition to Adani Power. Aside from the five equities, which it mostly purchased from the promoter family, GQG also owns shares of Ambuja Cements, but it bought those shares on the open market.
Worldwide Emerging Market Holding sold 1.2% in Adani Power for Rs 1,300 crore, according to bulk deal announcements on the two bourses, while Afro Asia Trade and Investments sold its entire 6.9% holding for Rs 7,400 crore.
The stock was sold at a price that was comparable to its Wednesday closing price on the BSE of Rs 279. Following the deal, Worldwide Emerging now owns 3.8% of Adani Power, the biggest coal-fired power plant in the nation. Additionally, disclosures revealed that GQG and an affiliate fund spent Rs 4,240 crore on 15.2 crore shares of Adani Power, representing approximately 4% of the company’s stock. The GQG’s initial investment in Adani Power is a part of a broader wager on the Adani Group, but it is the first one.
According to sources, GQG also purchased the final 4.2% stake that was auctioned on the secondary market. One of the largest secondary market trades historically took place in this deal, which involved a stock exchange transaction involving 31 crore shares, or 8.1% of Adani Power’s total equity.
Money raised from the stake-sale will be used to increase liquidity as the family led by Gautam Adani seeks to improve the financial condition of the conglomerate and regain the confidence of investors in the aftermath of Hindenburg Research’s critical report on its business practices.The group has a total cash balance of about Rs 37,400 crore and a consolidated liability of Rs 2.4 lakh crore.
Additionally, GQG has been purchasing stock in other Indian businesses. According to BSE records, it made an investment of Rs 352 crore in Sajjan-Jindal-owned JSW Energy on Wednesday by acquiring 1 crore of the company’s shares in a secondary transaction for Rs 342 each.
