Adani plans airport unit IPO by 2027, Hastens $100 billion capex

Billionaire Gautam Adani’s group is gearing up to list its airports unit by 2027, as part of an ambitious growth plan that entails investing $100 billion across businesses over the next few years.

Adani Airport Holdings Ltd., India’s largest private-sector airport operator, will likely be spun off and listed by March 2027, according to Adani Group executives who spoke on the condition of anonymity as the details aren’t public. Currently owned by the flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd., the firm operates eight Indian airports and will be opening a new terminal on the outskirts of Mumbai in a few months time.

The ports-to-power conglomerate has also doubled the pace of its capital spending plan and now intends to plow $100 billion in five to six years instead of spreading it out over a decade as announced before, the executives said. The investments will be used to scale up energy, logistics and infrastructure businesses, they added.

An Adani Group representative did not respond to an email seeking comments.

The accelerated investment and listing plans point to how the group led by Asia’s second-richest person is back to fundraising and rapid growth mode. It was pummeled by short seller Hindenburg Research’s corporate fraud allegations in 2023 and then rattled by the US Department of Justice’s bribery probe against its founder in November that also derailed some of Adani’s overseas projects. 

Adani Group has denied allegations made in both the cases.

In mounting evidence that it’s business-as-usual at the Adani Group after the spate of recent setbacks, Gautam Adani traveled to China last week to meet industrial equipment manufacturers in what appears to be his first significant overseas trip since the DOJ indictment. There’s no clarity on the agenda for the China trip.

Metals Unit IPO 

The Adani Group plans to borrow $30 billion from domestic and international markets to bankroll its massive investment plan, the executives said.

Internal accruals will finance the rest with about $50 billion likely from the group’s listed companies, they added. Newer assets, including airports, roads, and renewable energy projects, should bring in another $20 billion by 2030 by when the metals business will likely be listed as well, the executives said.

Adani Group, with interests stretching from ports to green energy and cement to media, is also back to luring overseas investors, even as it navigates DoJ’s ongoing investigation into its founder.

It raised about $750 million for an acquisition in April, with BlackRock Inc. subscribing to about a third of the bond issue. In May, its ports unit raised $150 million from DBS Group Holdings Ltd. in a bilateral loan. Adani Airports this month secured $750 million via external commercial borrowings from international banks.

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