Bain Capital, Carlyle, Cerberus in race to buy Adani group NBFC Adani Capital

Three private equity firms Bain Capital, Carlyle Group and Cerberus Capital Management are planning to jointly buy Adani Capital, part of the Rs 10 lakh-crore Adani group, the Economic Times reported citing multiple people involved. The Adani group, led by billionaire Gautam Adani, is looking to divest its non-core business to focus on its niche areas, according to the report.  

At the time of publishing this report, separate emails sent by Zeebiz.com to Adani Capital, Carlyle Group and Cerberus Capital Management each remained unanswered, while Bain Capital declined to comment on the report. 

The PE firms are eyeing to make a complete buyout of NBFC, led by CEO Gaurav Gupta, who owns a 10 per cent stake in the company. The remaining 90 per cent is held by its promoters.  

Adani Capital is looking to raise additional growth capital from international strategic and financial investors, The Hindu Business Line quoted the Adani group spokesperson as saying in a report. 

The Adani group is expecting a valuation of Rs 2,000 crore, which is around 2-2.5 times the book value, the Economic Times report said, adding that the promoters might choose to retain a small stake based on the final valuation.   

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What is Adani Capital? 

Adani Capital started lending operations in April 2017. It has assets under management to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore and a book value of Rs 800 crore.  

The company's business is broadly categorised as retail and rural lending, and wholesale lending. 

Adani Capital had earlier planned an IPO in 2024 but faced challenges after coming under scrutiny of short-seller Hindenburg Research in January this year. 

According to multiple reports, the promoters of the Adani group are reducing their stakes in the group firms through a combination of primary and secondary share sales as they feel that increasing cash reserves is the best course of action given the uncertain global investment conditions. 

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(With inputs from agencies)