Adani Green scraps USD 600 mn bond sale after promoter charged in alleged bribery case in US

NEW DELHI: Adani Green Energy Ltd, the renewable energy arm of billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate, on Thursday scrapped a USD 600 million bond issue after its promoter was charged in an alleged bribery case in the US.

Hours before the US prosecutors charged Gautam Adani and associates with participating in a scheme to pay over USD 250 million bribe to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts, the firm sold a 20-year green bond in the US-investment-grade market.

The issue was over-subscribed three times. But following the allegations, the issue was scrapped.

"The United States Department of Justice and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission have issued a criminal indictment and brought a civil complaint, respectively, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, against our Board members, Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani.

"The United States Department of Justice has also included our Board member, Vneet Jaain, in such criminal indictment. In light of these developments, our subsidiaries have presently decided not to proceed with the proposed USD denominated bond offerings," Adani Green Energy said in a stock exchange filing.

The firm had tried to sell a similar offering a month ago but postponed the deal after some investors pushed back on pricing.

Last year, the ports-to-energy conglomerate had scrapped a Rs 20,000 crore Follow-on Public Offer (FPO) at its flagship firm, Adani Enterprises Ltd following damning allegations by US short-seller Hindenburg Research.

That issue too was fully subscribed but the company decided to call it off and refund all investors.

Hindenburg had alleged "brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud" in January 2023 that led to the conglomerate seeing USD 150 billion wipeout in market value at its lowest point. Adani Group had denied all allegations made by Hindenburg.