Adani Ports gets about US$150 million loan from DBS

[MUMBAI] Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone raised about US$150 million through a bilateral loan agreement with DBS Group Holdings, according to people familiar with the matter, as the Indian conglomerate continues to restore lender confidence.

The proceeds of the four-year dollar loan will be used for capital expenditure, the people said, asking not be identified because the information is private. The facility has been priced at about 200 basis points above the benchmark Secured Overnight Financing Rate, they said.

The all-in-price, including the hedging cost, is about 5.5 per cent, one of the person said. DBS declined to comment. An Adani Group representative did not offer any immediate comments on the transaction.

Billionaire Gautam Adani-owned conglomerate, with interests stretching from ports to green energy, is steadily regaining creditor confidence following a US Department of Justice indicted Adani over an alleged bribery plot in November. The bilateral loan is the group’s first from a global bank since the indictment, one of the person said.

Last month, the group raised about US$750 million through an offshore private placement bond to fund an acquisition of a construction firm. BlackRock subscribed to about a third of the issuance. Separately, the conglomerate is in talks with foreign banks including Barclays, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Standard Chartered Bank for a US$750 million loan for its airport unit.

Representatives for Adani and his companies recently met US administration officials to discuss potentially dismissing criminal charges levied against him in the bribery probe, Bloomberg reported earlier this month. BLOOMBERG