The Adani family has raised their stake in Ambuja Cements by the conversion of 21.20 crore warrants into shares in a transaction that will see them infusing nearly Rs 6,661 crore.

Harmonia Trade and Investment, which is classified as a promoter of the cement major, will convert 21.20 crore warrants into an equal number of shares due to which the Adani family’s stake will rise 3.6 per cent to 66.7 per cent.

The shares of Ambuja Cements, which the conglomerate had acquired in September 2022, had closed at Rs 601.70 on the BSE on Wednesday. Ambuja Cements on Thursday settled with gains of 1.76 per cent on the announcement.

As per the current rules, in the case of the conversion to shares, the subscriber must pay taxes even if they are not sold. However, if they are sold after conversion, it is subject to either capital gains or loss.

On October 18, 2022, Ambuja Cements had allotted 47.74 crore convertible warrants to Harmonia at an issue price of Rs. 418.87 per warrant.

Out of this, Rs 104.72 (25 per cent of the issue price) per warrant was received as the initial subscription amount at the time of the allotment of the warrants. The Adani family had then infused Rs 5,000 crore.

Ambuja Cements disclosed that out of the over 47.74 crore convertible warrants allotted to Harmonia, the promoter firm has now opted to exercise and convert 212,030,758 warrants which are convertible into equal number of shares of the company.

This came after the firm received the balance subscription amount of Rs 314.15 per warrant which translates to Rs 6,661 crore.

In all, the Adani family has infused Rs 11,661 crore into the company after the acquisition from Holcim India.

Ambuja Cements said the funds infusion will enable it to achieve targeted annual capacity of 140 million tonnes by 2028 in the cement vertical.

Ambuja Cements CEO Ajay Kapur said this infusion of funds provides “flexibility for fast-tracked growth, capital management initiatives and best-in-class balance sheet strength”.

The US short-seller Hindenburg which had come out with a damaging report on the Adani group early last year had claimed that Harmonia is among 16 other entities registered at an Mauritius address and have either Vinod Adani as a director or Subir Mittra (CEO of Adani’s family office).

In March 2023, the Adani group said Vinod Adani is part of the promoter group of “various listed entities”. ``We would like to submit that Gautam Adani and Rajesh Adani are individual promoters of various listed entities within the Adani group and Vinod Adani is an immediate relative of the individual promoters,” it had said.