US life insurers, not LIC, led the recent Adani investments

New Delhi: Life Insurance Corporation of India’s investment in Adani group companies may be under the spotlight, but recent data shows that some of the largest investments in entities controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani have come not from the state insurer but from major US and global insurers.

In June 2025, a month after USD 570 million (Rs 5,000 crore) investment by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in Adani Ports & SEZ, US-based Athene Insurance led a Rs 6,650 crore (USD 750 million) debt investment in Adani’s Mumbai International Airport, joined by several leading international insurance firms.

Apollo Global Management -- Athene’s parent company -- in a statement on June 23 stated that its managed funds, affiliates, and other long-term investors had completed a USD 750 million “investment grade rated financing” for Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MAIL). This was Apollo’s second large financing for MIAL, following its previous financing that provided operational flexibility to deleverage.

Other fund raises included Adani Green Energy Ltd raising around USD 250 million from a group of global lenders, including DBS Bank, DZ Bank, Rabobank, and Bank SinoPac Co Ltd.

In all, the group signed new credit facilities of more than USD 10 billion in the first half of the year across the port unit (APSEZ), renewable energy arm (AGEL), flagship firm (Adani Enterprises Ltd) and power transmission unit (Adani Energy Solutions Ltd), according to an August report by S&P Global Ratings.

LIC’s investments in the Adani group were under the spotlight after The Washington Post reported that government officials influenced LIC’s investment decisions amid global investor hesitation.

On Saturday, LIC called the report “false, baseless and far from the truth” and said its investments in Adani group companies were made independently and in accordance with its board-approved policies, following detailed due diligence.

India’s largest insurer has, over the years, made investment decisions across companies based on fundamentals and detailed due diligence. Its investment value in India’s top 500 companies has grown 10-fold since 2014 – from Rs 1.56 lakh crore to Rs 15.6 lakh crore – reflecting strong fund management.

Its exposure to the Adani group is less than 2 per cent of the Rs 2.6 lakh total debt of the conglomerate. Also, Adani is not LIC’s largest holding - Reliance Industries Ltd, ITC, and Tata Group are.

LIC owns 4 per cent (worth Rs 60,000 crore) of Adani stocks versus 6.94 per cent (Rs 1.33 lakh crore) in Reliance, 15.86 per cent (Rs 82,800 crore) in ITC Ltd, 4.89 per cent (Rs 64,725 crore) in HDFC Bank, and 9.59 per cent (Rs 79,361 crore) in SBI. LIC holds 5.02 per cent of TCS worth Rs 5.7 lakh crore.

While former LIC chairman Siddhartha Mohanty said the government never interferes directly or indirectly in any investment decision of LIC, Adani Group CFO Jugeshinder Singh took a swipe at the publication, saying: “Washington Post writing about finance is like Jeff Bezos and I writing about how to have a full head of hair - 100 per cent moronic.”