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Indian billionaire Gautam Adani is pressing ahead with major investment plans and shrugging off the threat from US criminal charges, telling shareholders on Tuesday that his conglomerate’s governance met global standards.
The Adani Group chair announced capital spending of $15bn to $20bn a year for the next five years, at the infrastructure-focused company’s annual meeting. Separately, $1bn in financing was revealed for its airports business from funds managed by Apollo and BlackRock.
The confidence shown by leading international financial groups, along with the revenue growth he announced of 7 per cent in 2024 to $31.5bn, suggested the controversial Indian company had weathered another difficult year.
US prosecutors charged Gautam Adani in November, along with seven others, in connection with an alleged years-long scheme to bribe Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms on solar power contracts.
“True leadership is not built in sunshine”, but “constructed in the fire of crisis”, he told the meeting. “Even in the face of storms and relentless scrutiny, the Adani Group has never backed down.”
Adani, one of India’s most powerful tycoons, has repeatedly dismissed the allegations by the US Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission.
He said on Tuesday that no one from the group had been charged under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and, while the group was co-operating with the legal processes, “our governance is of global standards, and our compliance frameworks are non-negotiable”.
The Adani brand did take a hit from the US indictment, while some international plans, including fundraising efforts, were stalled. But the group has been returning to the markets this year to refinance debt and revitalise its plans.
Adani Airports said on Tuesday that the $1bn financing for Mumbai airport was “led by Apollo-managed funds, with participation from a syndicate of leading institutional investors and insurance companies which included BlackRock-managed funds, Standard Chartered among others, underlining global confidence in India’s Infrastructure”.
The transaction has an initial $750mn for refinancing, with a provision for a further $250mn.
Apollo confirmed its participation, saying in a statement it was “supporting a critical infrastructure asset and the next phase of [Adani’s] ambitious growth capex plans”. BlackRock and Standard Chartered did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Adani, whose businesses span green energy, ports, realty, mining and news media, has long-standing ties with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has moved in lockstep with the government’s push to improve infrastructure across the country.
In 2023, the group was rocked by allegations of share price manipulation and fraud made by the now-defunct New York-based short seller Hindenburg Research. The allegations initially wiped billions of dollars from its market value, but Adani has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and its stock has since rebounded.