Adani Group firms pledge more shares for SBI

Three Adani Group companies have pledged additional shares for State Bank of India, days after a scathing report by a US short-seller led to over USD 100 billion loss in its market value, as per stock exchange filings. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), Adani Transmission Ltd and Adani Green Energy pledged shares to SBICAP Trustee Company, a unit of India’s biggest lender, SBI. As many as 75 lakh more shares of APSEZ have been pledged, taking the total to 1 per cent of all shares with SBICAP. In the case of Adani Green, pledge of 60 lakh more shares took the total to 1.06 per cent. Pledge of 13 lakh more shares of Adani Transmission took the total to 0.55 per cent, the filings showed. The additional pledges are part of a USD 300 million letter of credit – issued by a bank to another bank as a guarantee for payments made – provided by SBI for Adani Group’s Carmichael coal mining project in Australia.