Bain to buy 90% stake in Adani Capital and Adani Housing

By Akanksha Khushi

(Reuters) -U.S.-based investment firm Bain Capital said on Sunday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire 90% of Adani Capital and Adani Housing, buying out all of the Adani family’s private investments in the company.

Gaurav Gupta will retain the remaining 10% stake in Adani Capital and will continue to serve as its Managing Director and CEO, Bain said.

Adani Capital is the non-banking financial arm of the Adani group which started its lending operations in 2017. Bain has committed $120 million for the arm and an additional liquidity line of $50 million in the form of Non-Convertible Debentures.

Bain’s interest in the billionaire Gautam Adani-owned firm comes at a time when it has been under pressure after U.S. short seller Hindenburg Research accused it of improper business practices, leading to a more than $150 billion plunge in value of the group’s main stocks.

The transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, aims to position Adani Capital as a standalone company to expand lending, Bain said.

“I am very happy that a credible investor like Bain is stepping in now and this will help the business grow manyfold from here,” said Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani group.

Bain’s investment follows other international investments by companies like GQG which raised its stake in Gautam Adani’s conglomerate by about 10% in May.

“With Bain committing 1,000 Crore rupees of capital in the company, we are now equipped to grow 4x from here,” Gupta said in a statement.

Adani group stocks have recovered by around $50 billion since the Hindenburg-triggered stock rout early this year after Gautam Adani assured investors and repaid debt.

(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Andrea Ricci)