Adani Ports Raises $750 Million Via Long-Term Bonds

Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. has raised $750 million (Rs 5,588.3 crore) overseas through unsecured bonds.

The coupon rates for the 10.5-year and 20-year dual-trance bonds were fixed at 3.8% and 5%, respectively, the nation’s largest private port operator said in an exchange filing.

“The issuances were closed on July 26, 2021 and were oversubscribed by more than three times by marquee investors,” the filing said. “[The] Issuance increases the average life of long-term debt to over seven years and reconfigures the ratio of Adani Ports’ debt from overseas investors from 69% to 73%.”

The company said it intends to use the proceeds to repay existing indebtedness, for capital expenditure and for general corporate purposes. The notes are expected to be listed on Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd. and the India International Exchange Ltd..

Axis Bank, Barclays, Citigroup, JPMorgan, MUFG, Emirates NBD and Standard Chartered are among those that helped the company raise the bond funds.

“Adani Ports’ capital management policy endeavors to elongate the maturity profile of its debt by increasing proportion of long term debt in its overall debt mix,” Prashant Tarwadi, director (corporates), India Ratings and Research, told BloombergQuint. For instance, average maturity of the company’s debt rose to about six years as of March 31, 2021 against 4.08 years as of March 31, 2019, he said, adding that currently about 94% of debt is long-term against 74% in FY16.

Shares of Adani Ports were trading 2.07% down as of 1 p.m. on Tuesday compared with a 0.44% drop in the Nifty 50.