Adani to sell 3% in Ambuja Cement for $500 million as part of holdings adjustment in group: Sources
New Delhi: Adani group promoters may sell up to 3 per cent of their shares in Ambuja Cements as part of a regular adjustment of holdings they carry to keep stake across the ports-to-energy conglomerate at desired levels, sources said.
Promoters will sell about 7 crore shares, or 2.84 per cent, in the cement maker for Rs 4,198 crore, sources aware of the matter said.
The offer price of Rs 600 apiece is at a 5 per cent discount to Thursday's closing price of Rs 632.90 on BSE.
Billionaire Gautam Adani-led promoter group holds shares worth USD 125 billion across the 10 listed companies of the conglomerate.
Just like Berkshire Hathaway, they actively manage investment portfolios, which include owner stock, by regularly adjusting holding.
This with a view to providing strategic flexibility for events such as an acquisition.
The group, which has attracted large long-only investors, also does the adjustment to suit the needs of an investor, they said.
While the long-only investors typically are invested in a stock for a long-term of 10-15 years, in hypothetical scenarios some may at a given point of time want to shed a part of the shareholding to meet funding needs. Instead of the investors tapping the open market, the promoters offer the flexibility of picking up those stocks for the time being and replenishing them at a later day.
Sources said the adjustments in the holdings are done on a regular basis to keep the promoters’ interest at a desired level.
The equity adjustments typically range from 0.5 per cent to 3 per cent.
The stake sale in Ambuja Cement is part of that and not linked to any debt reduction, they said adding the debt is at the company level.
Promoters may look to shed some stake in Adani Power in October, they said.
Ambuja is one of the two firms that Adani bought in 2022 from Holcim Ltd to emerge as India's second-largest cement maker overnight.
The sale of stake through block deals will boost the public float of the company.
On Monday, the conglomerate stated that it has enough cash to cover more than 30 months of debt payments and that its businesses are firing on all cylinders.
Cash balance at the group accounted for 24.8 per cent of gross debt of Rs 2.41 lakh crore as of the end of June, up from 17.7 per cent a year earlier, it had said in a statement. "24.77 per cent of gross debt is in the form of cash balances providing liquidity to cover 30 months of debt servicing." The conglomerate saw June quarter pre-tax profit surge by 33 per cent on the back of strong performance by the core infrastructure business as also emerging businesses ranging from solar and wind manufacturing to airports.
"EBITDA (in April-June) surged by 32.87 per cent year-on-year to reach Rs 22,570 crore, resulting in a trailing twelve-month (TTM) EBITDA of Rs 79,180 crore, marking a 45.13 per cent increase over the corresponding TTM of the previous year," the group said.
Group net profit jumped over 50 per cent to Rs 10,279 crore in April-June - the first quarter of the current 2024-25 fiscal year.
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Insensitive of Pune hospital to deny admission to woman, says Fadnavis; forms inquiry panel
Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered the formation of a committee to inquire into the death of a pregnant woman after she was allegedly refused admission by Pune's leading Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital over non-payment of a deposit of Rs 10 lakh.
The controversy escalated on Friday with local political activists staging a protest outside the hospital and the hospital claiming that the woman's relatives were making misleading allegations.
A day earlier, BJP MLC Amit Gorkhe claimed in a video message that Tanisha Bhise, the wife of his personal assistant, was refused admission by the hospital. She was taken to another hospital where she died after delivering twins, he said.
A statement from the Chief Minister's Office said on Friday that he had taken serious note of the incident. "He has ordered the formation of an inquiry committee under the chairmanship of the Joint Commissioner of Charity, Pune," it said.
It said that the deputy secretary or under-secretary of the Law and Justice department would be the member secretary of the committee.
Further, instructions have been issued to the principal secretary, the Law and Justice department and the charity commissioner to ensure that the Charity Patient Scheme prepared as per the directions of the High Court is effectively implemented by all charity hospitals, the CMO said.
"All charitable hospitals should seek approval from the 'Charity Hospital Help Desk' through the online system to make reserved beds available to patients from the poor and vulnerable groups," it said.
The government has approved 186 posts of charitable health workers in charitable hospitals, and they should be filled immediately, the CMO statement said.
Talking to reporters here, Fadnavis said it was "insensitive" on the part of the hospital to deny admission to a pregnant woman.
He conceded that there was a lot of anger among the people over the incident.
"Medical ethics are needed. The Chief Minister's medical cell also intervened, but the hospital did not budge," Fadnavis said.
An internal inquiry report of the Mangeshkar Hospital claimed that the allegations of denial of admission for non-payment of Rs 10 lakh were "misleading" and made "out of frustration" by her family.
The woman's pregnancy was in the high-risk category, and her two underweight fetuses of seven months, coupled with a history of an old ailment, required Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) treatment for at least two months, it said.
The treatment required Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh and the family was advised that in case of lack of funds, they could admit the patient to the government-run Sassoon General Hospital for a complicated surgery, it added.
BJP MLC Chitra Wagh, meanwhile, came under criticism for a social media post praising the party's women's wing members who targeted and vandalised a private clinic in Pune's Kothrud area belonging to Dr Shusrut Ghaisas, who works at the hospital.
Dr Nilima Ghaisas, his mother, said her son did not practice there.
Activist Vishwambhar Choudhari criticised Wagh's remarks and claimed that the BJP-led state government recently allotted land to the hospital for Rs 1 per year rent.
The deceased woman's husband was the personal assistant of a BJP Member of the Legislative Council, yet he could not do anything, Chaudhari said.
