Asia’s Richest Man Plans IPOs for at Least Five Companies

(Bloomberg) — Asia’s richest man, Gautam Adani, plans to sell shares to the public in at least five companies between 2026 and 2028, helping the port-to-power conglomerate improve debt ratios and broaden its investor base.

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“At least five units will be ready to go to the market in the next three to five years,” Adani Group chief finance officer Jugeshinder Singh spoke in an interview. He said Adani New Industries Ltd., Adani Airport Holdings Ltd., Adani Road Transport Ltd., AdaniConnex Pvt Ltd. and the group’s metals and mining units would become independent units.

Singh ​said businesses such as the airport operator are consumer platforms servicing nearly 300 million customers and need to operate on their own and manage their capital requirements for further growth. Before a formal merger can be executed, Singh said that the businesses must demonstrate they are capable of meeting the basic requirements for independent execution, operations, and capital management.

“Scale is already there for the five units,” Singh said. Singh said. “airport business is already independent, while Adani New Industries is going strong on the green energy side. Adani Road is demonstrating new build-operate-transfer models to the nation, while the data center business will grow further. Metals and mining would cover our aluminum, copper and mining services.”

Billionaire Adani has faced criticism over the group’s rapid expansion from a traditional port operator to a sprawling conglomerate with assets including media, cement and green energy that some say has increased debt and financial complexity. Research firm CreditSights red-flagged the Adani Group’s “elevated” Leverage ratios in the last year. Leverage ratios were a term that the group rejected and called into question. “healthy.”

Blistering Rally

Most of the tycoon’s companies have seen a blistering stock rally in the past few years, vaulting Adani up the wealth rankings past Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates to a net worth of almost $121 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. has increased more than 1,300% from early 2020, Adani Total Gas Ltd. more than 2,100%, Adani Green Energy Ltd. more than 900%, and Adani Transmission Ltd. more than 725%, according to Bloomberg data.

Adani Enterprises is slated to sell new shares at a discount and allow payments in three installments when it rolls out a $2.5 billion follow-on offer later this month — an unusual move for one of the country’s major stocks that is designed to attract domestic mom-and-pop investors​. Diversified shareholder bases would make the stock less liquid and help pay down debt.

The next offer “is a good first step,” said Chakri Lokapriya, Mumbai-based managing director at TCG Asset Management. “And the proceeds of IPOs of five or six companies, can be used to further cut debt.”

Adani Group has consistently aligned itself to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda. It has pledged more that $70 billion to assist India in its transition from being an importer of fossil fuels to becoming a source of renewable energy.

“These demergers will result in massive cash flow and make the conglomerate a more valuable platform globally showcasing India’s prowess of infrastructure,” Singh said.

–With Ruchi Bhattia’s help.

(Updates regarding Adani Group’s share performance in paragraph 6.)

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