MUMBAI: The Adani Group plans to prepay a $500 million bridge loan due next month after some banks balked at refinancing the debt following a short seller report that sent the group’s assets tumbling.
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.
The lenders were in talks to refinance the loan up to a week before the critical report from Hindenburg Research was published, according to people familiar with the matter. Those negotiations stalled after the report alleging fraud led to a massive selloff, chilling the banks’ willingness to refinance, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.
