Top international banks, led by BNP Paribas, Barclays and Citigroup, have strongly backed Adani Group‘s plan to buy Swiss firm Holcim‘s stake in Ambuja Cements and ACC. The group has raised $5.25 billion through debt financing, thus showing support for an international banker takeover.

The Adani family is acquiring Ambuja and ACC for $10.5 billion with a capacity of 70 Mtpa, including a public sale to the company’s minority shareholders. Adani Group will buy Holcim’s 63.1% stake in Ambuja and 4.4% in ACC for $6.5 billion. In turn, Ambuja holds a 50% stake in ACC. Adani Group will then make a mandatory public offer to minority shareholders at offer prices of Rs 385 per share for Ambuja and Rs 2,300 per share for ACC.

Despite the international turmoil, the strong support for debt financing vehicles shows the group’s growing influence in international banking, bankers said. “The group will refinance part of the short debt raised later. But raising such a huge sum in the months following the announcement shows how foreign banks can support India’s growth story,” said a banker close to the deal.

Following the acquisition of Ambuja Cements and ACC, the Adani Group is focusing on increasing its combined production capacity from the current 70 Mtpa to 100 Mtpa, in line with UltraTech, the industry leader with a 120 Mtpa capacity year. Ambuja and ACC will use their cash to invest in new capacity and take on new debt. In addition, bankers said the expansion plans of the two companies would be on the fast track to increase capacity to 140 Mtpa due to real estate demand, while the infrastructure sector is rapidly emerging.

According to plans by Ambuja and ACC, the total capacity will increase to 73 Mtpa by next year, accounting for 12% of the market capacity. With various cost-cutting measures, including post-merger synergies, Adani’s cement capacity could reach 100 Mtpa through brownfield capacity at $80-90 per ton, making it attractive, analysts said.

The debt financing is divided into four tranches: $500 million in short-term debt, $3 billion in 18-month debt, $1 billion in two-year funding and $750 million in two-year financing.

An international finance expert said that the average coupon rate for such loans is 7.5% (approximately), which is low compared to the prevailing interest rate in India.