BILLIONAIRE Gautam Adani and family have completed full prepayment of margin-linked, share-backed funding worth US$2.15 billion before a Mar 31 deadline, the conglomerate said on Sunday (Mar 12).

The founders of the Adani Group also prepaid a US$500 million loan facility taken to finance the acquisition of Ambuja Cements. As a result, the founders have completed prepaying US$2.65 billion within six weeks, according to the statement from the port-to-power conglomerate.

The founders have also poured in US$2.6 billion out of the total acquisition value of US$6.6 billion for Ambuja Cements and ACC, the statement said.

All Adani Group stocks advanced on Monday when trading resumed in Mumbai after the tycoon’s efforts to restore confidence among investors. Four out of 10 Adani stocks including Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission jumped by their 5 per cent daily limit. The flagship Adani Enterprises climbed as much as 4.7 per cent while Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone rose as much as 1.8 per cent.

Earlier this month, the company said the founders had prepaid US$902 million worth of borrowings backed by shares following another similar US$1.1 billion prepayment in February.

The company had said at the time that the payments were “consistent with promoters’ commitment to prepay all share-backed financing before Mar 31, 2023”.

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On Sunday, the company said that the prepayments showed “the strong liquidity management and access to capital” and highlighted the “solid capital prudency adopted at all portfolio companies”.

The prepayments come weeks after a scathing report from Hindenburg Research that alleged stock manipulation and accounting fraud. It had expressed concerns over the founders’ shares in Adani Group companies being pledged for debt, saying that it was “effectively leveraging the group to the hilt”.

Hindenburg added that the equity share pledges were an unstable source of borrowing because of the possibility of a margin call. Adani has vehemently denied the accusations in the short seller’s report. BLOOMBERG