Will review capital markets strategy, says Gautam Adani

Mumbai: Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani said on Thursday that the conglomerate would review its capital markets strategy and revisit fundraising plans once the market conditions stabilised.

The group's surprise decision to pull out of the ₹20,000-crore follow-on public offer (FPO) of flagship firm Adani Enterprises (AEL) was driven by moral consideration to protect the interests of investors, he said.

"For me, the interest of my investors is paramount and everything is secondary. Hence, to insulate the investors from potential losses, we have withdrawn the FPO," Adani said in a note to investors.

The shares have been on a freefall after an attack last week by short-seller Hindenburg, accusing the group of stock price manipulation. On Wednesday, a day after the successful closure of the FPO, AEL shares lost 28.2% in market value after reports emerged that global banking major Credit Suisse had stopped accepting Adani Group bonds as collateral. The company announced the decision to withdraw the FPO on Wednesday night.

The chairman maintained that cancellation of the FPO would not have any impact on the group's existing operations and future plans. "We will continue to focus on timely execution and delivery of projects," he said.

"The fundamentals of our company are strong. Our balance sheet is healthy and assets, robust. Our Ebitda levels and cash flows have been very strong, and we have an impeccable track record of fulfilling our debt obligations. We will continue to focus on long-term value creation and growth will be managed by internal accruals," he said. The faith of investors who subscribed to the FPO despite share prices falling below the floor price was "reassuring and humbling," he said.

"We have a strong focus on ESG (environmental, social and governance standards) and every business of ours will continue to create value in a responsible way. The strongest validation of our governance principles comes from several international partnerships we have built across our different entities. I take this opportunity to thank our investment bankers, institutional investors and shareholders from within and outside the country for giving unflinching support to the FPO," he said.

"In my humble journey of over four decades as an entrepreneur, I have been blessed to receive overwhelming support from all stakeholders particularly the investor community. It is important for me to confess that whatever little I have achieved in life is due to the faith and trust reposed by them," he said, adding: "I owe all my success to them."