India's Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone said Monday that it started a buyback program of certain debt securities of up to $130 million to prepay part of its near-term loans and show that its liquidity position is comfortable.
Adani Ports, a group company of Adani Group, has floated a cash tender of 3.375% maturity dollar-denominated bonds due in 2024, it said in an exchange filing, as the group aims to regain investor confidence.
"The purpose of the tender offer is to prepay the company’s near-term debt maturities partly and to convey the comfortable liquidity position," it said in a statement.
The company has engaged Barclays Bank, DBS Bank, Emirates NBD Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, MUFG Securities Asia Singapore Branch, SMBC Nikko Securities (Hong Kong), and Standard Chartered Bank to act as dealer managers for the offer.
The debt buyback marks the first by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate since a short seller targeted it in January.
Adani Ports plans to buy back similar amounts in each of the following four quarters.
The Economic Times first reported Monday that the Adani Group plans to buy back foreign currency bonds of various group companies.
The group will likely begin with a first tranche amounting to $250-$300 million in the current quarter and seeks to buy back the remainder in the following quarters, the report added.
The company has over $768.8 million (63 billion rupees) of liabilities due next year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, with an even larger year for maturities coming in 2027.
The US dollar-denominated bonds issued by Adani Ports rose after the company floated the tender.
The conglomerate rebutted in March Indian media reports that expressed concerns about its ability to repay debt, easing a selloff that wiped out billions of investors' money and the net worth of the group’s founder and chairman.
