Adani plans to prepay $500 million loan due in March to banking group

The Adani Group plans to prepay a $500 million loan due next month to a group of banks as the Indian conglomerate looks to bolster its finances following a short seller attack.

Barclays Plc, Standard Chartered Plc and Deutsche Bank AG are among banks that lent Adani $4.5 billion to finance the purchase of Holcim Ltd. cement assets last year. A portion of that loan is due March 9.

An Adani spokesperson said the conglomerate had been in talks with banks to refinance that part of the loan but has decided to prepay it. The spokesperson said discussions with the banks have not stalled.

The corporate empire of Gautam Adani, once the world’s second-richest person, has been thrown into a tailspin after the Hindenburg Research report on alleged malpractices. Ten Adani group companies including Adani Total Gas, Adani Enterprises, Adani Transmission and Adani Ports at one point erased $117 billion from their combined market values in the selloff, forcing the tycoon to top up his share pledges for loans.

Hindenburg Research alleged that a web of Adani-family controlled offshore shell entities in tax havens were used to facilitate corruption, money laundering and taxpayer theft. The conglomerate has called the report “bogus,” and threatened legal action. Adani gave a video speech last week stating that the group’s balance sheet is healthy.

Adani Enterprises rallied Tuesday, leading gains as most of the group’s stocks rose after its founders pre-paid some debt and traders covered short positions. The flagship’s shares rallied as much as 25% before finishing up nearly 15%.