By Scott Murdoch and Tom Westbrook
(Reuters) -Ratings agency Fitch has put some of Adani Group’s bonds on watch for a possible downgrade after some of the firm’s key executives were indicted by U.S. authorities on bribery charges.
Adani Energy Solutions Ltd, Adani Electricity Mumbai and some of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone rupee and dollar bonds are now on “watch negative”, Fitch said.
Ratings on four Adani subsidiary senior unsecured dollar bonds were downgraded from stable to negative, the agency said.
Fitch said it would monitor the U.S. investigation for any impact on Adani’s financial position, “particularly any material deterioration in near- to medium-term funding access, including their ability to roll over existing credit lines or access new facilities, as well as potentially higher credit spreads”.
French oil major TotalEnergies said on Monday it would halt financial contributions to its Adani Group investments following last week’s indictment.
U.S. prosecutors have charged billionaire Gautam Adani, founder of the Adani Group, and seven others for their alleged roles in a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials to secure power-supply deals.
The Adani Group has said the accusations as well as those levelled by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a parallel civil case were “baseless and denied” and that it would “seek all possible legal recourse”.
Adani dollar bonds steadied on Tuesday and prices rose slightly after three days of heavy falls.
Prices on some of the more liquid Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone debts maturing between 2027 and 2041 were up between half a cent and 1.5 cents on the dollar. They have fallen about 8-12 cents since news of the indictment.
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney and Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Additional reporting by Angela Christy in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
