SINGAPORE: DBS Group has a tightly managed exposure to India’s Adani group of companies, the chief executive of Southeast Asia’s largest bank said on Monday (Feb 13).
DBS was among a group of banks which provided finance to Adani’s US$10.5 billion acquisition of Holcim’s cement business in India last year. The Singapore bank provided financing of about S$1 billion (US$751 million).
“They’re solid, cash-generating companies, so we’re not concerned about the exposure,” chief executive Piyush Gupta told reporters after DBS reported quarterly results.
The cement industry has huge potential, given the growth in the market, Gupta said, “and so that exposure is quite tightly managed.”
New York-based short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group in a Jan 24 report of stock manipulation and improper use of offshore tax havens that it said obscured the extent of Adani family stock ownership in group firms.
The conglomerate, which has denied any wrongdoing, has since seen US$110 billion wiped off the value of its seven listed firms.