Adani to Sell 3% in Ambuja Cement for $500 Mn

New Delhi, Aug 22 (PTI) Adani group promoters may sell up to 3 per cent of their shares in Ambuja Cements as part of a regular adjustment of holdings they carry to keep stake across the ports-to-energy conglomerate at desired levels, sources said.

Promoters will sell about 7 crore shares, or 2.84 per cent, in the cement maker for Rs 4,198 crore, sources aware of the matter said.

The offer price of Rs 600 apiece is at a 5 per cent discount to Thursday's closing price of Rs 632.90 on BSE.

Billionaire Gautam Adani-led promoter group holds shares worth USD 125 billion across the 10 listed companies of the conglomerate.

Just like Berkshire Hathaway, they actively manage investment portfolios, which include owner stock, by regularly adjusting holding.

This with a view to providing strategic flexibility for events such as an acquisition.

The group, which has attracted large long-only investors, also does the adjustment to suit the needs of an investor, they said.

While the long-only investors typically are invested in a stock for a long-term of 10-15 years, in hypothetical scenarios some may at a given point of time want to shed a part of the shareholding to meet funding needs. Instead of the investors tapping the open market, the promoters offer the flexibility of picking up those stocks for the time being and replenishing them at a later day.

Sources said the adjustments in the holdings are done on a regular basis to keep the promoters' interest at a desired level.

The equity adjustments typically range from 0.5 per cent to 3 per cent.

The stake sale in Ambuja Cement is part of that and not linked to any debt reduction, they said adding the debt is at the company level.

Promoters may look to shed some stake in Adani Power in October, they said.

Ambuja is one of the two firms that Adani bought in 2022 from Holcim Ltd to emerge as India's second-largest cement maker overnight.

The sale of stake through block deals will boost the public float of the company.

On Monday, the conglomerate stated that it has enough cash to cover more than 30 months of debt payments and that its businesses are firing on all cylinders.

Cash balance at the group accounted for 24.8 per cent of gross debt of Rs 2.41 lakh crore as of the end of June, up from 17.7 per cent a year earlier, it had said in a statement. "24.77 per cent of gross debt is in the form of cash balances providing liquidity to cover 30 months of debt servicing."

The conglomerate saw June quarter pre-tax profit surge by 33 per cent on the back of strong performance by the core infrastructure business as also emerging businesses ranging from solar and wind manufacturing to airports.

"EBITDA (in April-June) surged by 32.87 per cent year-on-year to reach Rs 22,570 crore, resulting in a trailing twelve-month (TTM) EBITDA of Rs 79,180 crore, marking a 45.13 per cent increase over the corresponding TTM of the previous year," the group said.

Group net profit jumped over 50 per cent to Rs 10,279 crore in April-June - the first quarter of the current 2024-25 fiscal year.