Abu Dhabi’s IHC may bid for Adani Enterprises FPO stake

The UAE’s most valuable listed company continues to focus on expanding its operations

Abu Dhabi's International Holding Company completed a Dh7.3 billion investment deal with India’s Adani Group last year. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

International Holding Company, the UAE's most valuable listed company, is considering bidding for Indian conglomerate Adani Enterprises' 200 billion rupee ($2.45 billion) follow-on sale of shares that began on Wednesday.

“IHC is considering the opportunity of bidding for stock purchase in the Adani Enterprise FPO (follow-on public offer),” IHC spokesman Ahmad Ibrahim told The National in a statement.

“However, to be clear, this does not guarantee that the order will be executed at exactly what we are bidding for, should anything materialise, IHC will inform the market as per the governance rules and regulations.”

IHC was founded in 1998 as part of an initiative to diversify and develop non-oil business sectors in the UAE. The company had a market value of about Dh885 billion ($240.9 billion) at the close of trading on Wednesday.

The company has been rapidly expanding its operations globally, through acquisitions and joint investments.

Last year, it completed a Dh7.3 billion investment deal with Adani Group, which is owned by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani.

As part of the transaction, IHC made investments in three green-focused companies in the Adani Group including Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises, which are all listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.

Adani Enterprises, listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, is the flagship company of the Adani Group, which is rapidly expanding its operations from ports to energy and other sectors.

Last month, Adani Group took control of India's New Delhi Television after the founders decided to sell most of their shares to a firm controlled by the group.

In August, Adani Ports also signed a preliminary agreement with AD Ports Group, the operator of industrial cities and free zones in Abu Dhabi, to explore joint investment opportunities in Tanzania.

As part of the deal, the two companies will collaborate on potential end-to-end logistics infrastructure and solutions, which include services for rail, maritime, port operations, digital services and an industrial zone, AD Ports said at the time.

Shares in Adani Group companies fell on Wednesday after US investor Hindenburg Research said it was shorting the conglomerate’s stocks and accused companies owned by Asia’s richest man of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud.

However, the group dismissed the accusations in the report. The report is “a malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations”, Adani group chief financial officer Jugeshinder Singh said.

The timing “clearly betrays a brazen, mala fide intention to undermine” and damage the share sale plan, which began on Wednesday, said Mr Singh.