Abu Dhabi’s IHC confirms investment in Adani Group: Abu Dhabi-headquartered corporate investment holding firm International Holding Company (IHC) intends to invest USD 400 mn in the USD 2.45 bn (INR 200 bn) secondary offering of India’s Adani Group subsidiary Adani Enterprises, it announced in a statement. Bloomberg had previously reported that IHC had bid for some USD 200 mn worth of shares — suggesting the firm has invested double what was anticipated.

The IHC funding represents about 16% of Adani Enterprises’ secondary offering, Bloomberg notes. The investment is being made through IHC’s subsidiary, Green Transmission Investment Holding, as part of a company strategy to increase its global acquisition activities by 70% in 2023, IHC’s statement says. Last year, IHC invested some USD 2 bn in Adani Group’s green portfolio.

It joins several other anchor investors: UAE sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and other anchor investors bid for shares worth some INR 90 bn (USD 1.10 bn) late last week, making the INR 60 bn anchor portion of the offering 1.5x oversubscribed. ADIA was allocated 2.56% of the 18.2 mn shares reserved for institutional investors — worth INR 1.53 bn (USD 18.8 mn). Other investors include Maybank Securities and Life Ins. Corporation of India.

The secondary offering hasn’t panned out as hoped: Bloomberg had anticipated an oversubscription rate of 1.8-2x for the offering’s anchor book in a run-down published on Wednesday, when bidding kicked off. But Tuesday’s publication of a report by investment research firm and short seller Hindenburg Research, which leveled allegations of fraud and unsustainable debt at Adani Group, appears to have weakened investor appetite. Data gathered by Reuters yesterday indicated Adani had received bids for 1.4 mn shares — just over 3% of the 45.5 mn shares on offer in the retail portion of the sale.

And Adani Group’s share prices tanked with bns in losses: Share prices in most Adani Group firms fell sharply yesterday, with total losses for the group adding up to some USD 65 bn, Reuters noted. Adani Enterprises’ stock closed yesterday at INR 2,892/ share — some 7% below the sale’s INR 3,112/share floor price, the newswire added.

So could the secondary offering be scrapped? Bidding for anchor and retail investors is set to close today. Indian regulations say the offering must receive a minimum subscription of 90% — or else the issuer has to refund the full amount of investment, Reuters noted yesterday. The sale would continue on schedule at the planned issue price, Adani Group told Reuters on Saturday — despite reports from unnamed sources that bankers were mulling an extension of the timeline or cutting the issue price.

Raising money for green projects is a focal point of the secondary offering, amid Adani’s overall renewables push: Adani had intended to use some INR 108.69 bn (USD 1.33 bn) from the secondary offering to fund green hydrogen projects, along with other areas of infrastructure, Bloomberg reported last week. This follows Adani Group’s pledge in October (pdf) to invest USD 50-70 bn over the next decade across “the entire green energy value chain.”