Adani Gas plans direct listing of shares instead of initial public offer

Adani Gas Ltd, the gas distribution business of Adani Group, is planning to go for a direct listing of shares instead of an initial public offering (IPO), two people aware of the development said.

In January, the Adani Group decided to demerge its gas sourcing and distribution business into a new company called Adani Gas Ltd. The board of Adani Enterprises Ltd approved the scheme of arrangement among Adani Enterprises Ltd, Adani Gas Ltd and Adani Gas Holdings Ltd, according to one of the two people cited above.

Adani Gas supplies piped natural gas (PNG) to households and industries and compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport.

“City gas distribution has a good future in India and the company has aggressive growth plans. Direct listing is a good way of monetisation,” said the second person cited above.

In direct listing, a company sells shares directly to the public. It is less expensive than an initial public offer as there are no underwriters involved. Besides, there is no issue of new shares.

Adani Gas has set up city gas distribution networks at Ahmedabad and Vadodara in Gujarat, Faridabad in Haryana and Khurja in Uttar Pradesh. In addition, the firm has won the contracts for gas distribution in Allahabad, Chandigarh, Ernakulam, Panipat, Daman and Dharwad in a consortium with state-owned Indian Oil Corp. Ltd.

Adani Gas, which currently operates in six cities, plans to expand it to 50 by 2021.