The conglomerate acquiring a coal mine at auction has come under scrutiny on Tuesday, even as Adani Group fights the effects of US short seller Hindenburg's charges.
During government-sponsored commercial auctions last month, Adani purchased four coal blocks, including the North West of Madheri block, which had just one other bidder, Cavill Mining Private Limited, according to Scroll on Tuesday.
An unimportant privately held firm called Adicorp Enterprises, which Hindenburg claimed was used to transfer money between Adani companies, is also heavily promoted by Cavill Mining's owner.
The value of shares in Adani companies decreased by more than $100 billion as a result of Hindenburg's research, which was published on January 24. Adani was also forced to scale back some of its ambitious expansion ambitions.
Adicorp and Cavill Mining have the same Ahmedabad location and promoter, Utkarsh Shah, according to corporate papers.
Shah makes an appearance in a recently published biography of Gautam Adani as a friend who struggles to compete with him at sudoku games.
His freshly established company, Cavill Mining, was competing with an Adani affiliate, MH Natural Resources Private Ltd, for the right to mine the North West of Madheri block. Cavill Mining had a paid-up capital of Rs 1 lakh and no prior mining expertise.
The block has 200 million tonnes of coal and is situated in Chandrapur, Maharashtra.
Due to Cavill Mining's participation, the North West of Madheri auction was successfully concluded. According to the regulations of the Coal Ministry, the auction for a commercial mine is only authorised on the first try if there are at least two bidders.
A joint venture of the Adani Group is reportedly in talks with a dozen banks for a loan of roughly $220 million. If approved, it would be the joint venture's first loan since short-seller Hindenburg published a negative report on it earlier this year.
According to Bloomberg, the funds will be used for capital expenditures at data centre provider AdaniConneX, a joint venture with Virginia-based EdgeConneX. A five-year duration is being discussed. According to the source, the loan might be signed in the upcoming weeks.
