Adani Enterprises says JV raised $213 million to build data center; AEL shares down 6%

Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) on Friday said AdaniConneX, a 50:50 joint venture (JV) between AEL and EdgeConneX, has executed a $213 million senior debt facility with participation from international banks to fund its under-construction data center portfolio of 67 MW in Noida and Chennai. "The tied-up facility will finance two data centers with an aggregate capacity of 67 MW that includes 'Chennai 1' campus with Phase 1 of 17 MW and Noida campus of 50 MW," the company stated in an exchange filing.

"ING Bank NV, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Natixis, Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation have committed to the facility. The access to the wide pool of liquidity strengthens AdaniConneX strategy to fast-track the implementation of the under-construction asset portfolio in sync with accelerating demand," it also said.

The construction facility would provide the pathway to deliver a reliable and sustainable data center capacity of 1 GW by 2030, said Jeyakumar Janakaraj, CEO of AdaniConneX. The achievement marks a significant milestone in developing this transformative initiative, which is set to revolutionise the digital infrastructure in India, he added.

In a separate development, Shares of Adani Group companies came under intense selling pressure after a news report by Bloomberg suggested that US authorities were looking into representations that Adani Group made to American investors following short seller Hindenburg Research's scathing report.

The US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, New York, has sent inquiries in recent months to investors with large holdings in Adani Group, focused on what the Indian ports-to-power giant told them, the report stated. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also has a similar probe underway, it further mentioned.

Adani stocks have witnessed major ups and downs after the Hindenburg setback. In January this year, US-based Hindenburg Research released a report alleging stock manipulation and accounting fraud by the Gautam Adani-led conglomerate. Adani, however, denied all the claims.

Indian market regulator Sebi in May had "drawn a blank" in investigations into suspected violations in overseas investments in the Adani group and a Supreme Court-appointed panel said its ongoing pursuit of the case could be a "journey without a destination".

Meanwhile, shares of AEL trimmed their losses in late morning deals and were last seen trading 6.01 per cent lower at Rs 2,251.85. The stock today fell as much as 9.73 per cent to hit a day low of Rs 2,162.85 over its previous close of Rs 2,395.90.

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