Adani Port likely to raise $650 million via bond sales

MUMBAI: Billionaire Gautam Adani-controlled Adani Port Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) is raising up to $650 million in another overseas bond sale, following up on its $750-million fund raise three weeks ago, said three people familiar with the matter.

The purpose of the five-year bonds is to refinance high-cost debt. Pricing terms are not final yet.

“The latest series of proposed fund raising should help them save at least 30-50 basis points in borrowing costs,” one of the persons cited above told ET.


Adani Port didn’t comment.

Bank of America ML, Standard Chartered Bank, Citi, JP Morgan, MUFG, and Barclays are some of the investment bankers helping raise the money. Individual banks could not be contacted immediately for comments.

This series of bonds are termed as 144A, which allows US-based investors too to subscribe those papers.
About three weeks ago, APSEZ mopped up $750 million by selling overseas bonds, the proceeds from which were supposed to fund expansion and reduce high-cost debt. On June 10, ET had reported on the fund raising.

Since November 7 last year, when the US benchmark treasury peaked at 3.24%, the gauge has slid 112 basis points.

The latest series of bonds could be priced at a spread of 150-160 basis points above five-year US Treasury yields, said an investment banker.

In June, 10-year bonds were priced at 237.5 basis points over the benchmark, tighter than the initial guidance.

APSEZ is the largest port developer and operator in India when measured by volume, with coal and other dry bulk terminals showing an annual capacity of 378 million tonnes. The port operator has presence across 10 locations in India.