Adani Group bonds recover with analysts positive on ability to meet payments

Mumbai: Bonds sold by Adani Group companies recovered from their worst levels after ratings companies such as Fitch and Moody's did not express doubts about their ability to meet payments in the near future, and on buy calls from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.

While the stocks rout of some group companies continued, bonds got a breather with global investment banks telling clients that these papers were attractive and that the companies might be able to meet the payments.

Bonds of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, maturing in 2027, rose to 75 cents on the dollar from 71 cents a day earlier, data from Bloomberg showed. Some of the bonds including those of Adani Green had fallen to distressed levels on Thursday after the holding company, Adani Enterprises, pulled its ₹20,000 crore share sale a day before.

"Our immediate focus is primarily on assessing the rated entities' overall financial flexibility, including their liquidity position and access to funding to support refinancing and ongoing growth initiatives," ratings company Moody's said in a release. It said while the recent adverse developments would likely reduce the group's ability to raise capital to fund committed capex or refinance debt maturing over the next one to two years, "we recognise that a portion of the capex is deferrable, and the rated entities do not have significant maturing debt until FY2025".

On a call with investors Thursday, Goldman Sachs trading said the Adani debt had hit a floor in the short term and bonds of Adani Ports had become interesting at the current price due to the value of that company's assets, Bloomberg reported.

Analysts at JP Morgan believe the journey for Adani isn't straightforward, yet the bank still preferred to keep exposure to the group.