The Adani Group has recently suffered another blow with a significant decrease in stocks, reaching a total loss of $66 billion. This comes as the company is embroiled in a heated conflict with short-seller Hindenburg Research. Despite the broad sell-off, with Adani Green Energy Ltd. and Adani Total Gas Ltd. down over 20%, there are signs of a divide.
Adani Group Companies Show Resilience
Billionaire Gautam Adani’s flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. have rebounded following the rebuttal of Hindenburg’s fraud allegations. According to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Nitin Chanduka, “the market is likely to reward Adani group companies with relatively better visibility of earnings and solid fundamentals.” The market has cooled off after the sharp correction, and offers attractive opportunities for long-term investors.
Adani Enterprises Seeks to Complete Share Sale
The turmoil comes as Adani Enterprises is in the midst of a $2.5 billion share sale. Hindenburg has stated that the 413-page refutation failed to answer most of its questions. The conflict could weaken broader confidence in India, a former top investment destination for Wall Street, and could accelerate a shift towards China’s reopening.
Adani Group Companies Rebound
Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports are rebounding as they are the focal point for the group, according to Sameer Kalra, founder of Target Investing in Mumbai. The company rose 6.4% to 2,937 rupees ($36) in Mumbai and is seeking to raise Rs 200 billion by selling shares. In its rebuttal, Adani stated that some 65 of the 88 questions have been addressed in its public disclosures and described Hindenburg’s conduct as “nothing short of a calculated securities fraud under applicable law.”
Hindenburg Response to Adani Rebuttal
Hindenburg has responded to Adani’s rebuttal, stating that it ignored all its key allegations and was “obfuscated by nationalism.” The conglomerate’s statement failed to specifically answer 62 of Hindenburg’s 88 questions. The short seller claimed that the response conflated the company’s success and the wealth of Asia’s richest man with the success of India itself.
On January 24th, we released a report outlining numerous issues of suspected fraud at the Adani Group, the 2nd largest conglomerate in India run by the world’s then-third richest man.
Hours ago, Adani released a ‘413-page response’. It opened with the sensationalistic claim that we are the “Madoffs of Manhattan”. [1]
Adani also claimed we have committed a “flagrant breach of applicable securities and foreign exchange laws.” Despite Adani’s failure to identify any such laws, this is another serious accusation that we categorically deny.
It also predictably tried to lead the focus away from substantive issues and instead stoked a nationalist narrative, claiming our report amounted to a “calculated attack on India.” In short, the Adani Group has attempted to conflate its meteoric rise and the wealth of its Chairman, Gautam Adani, with the success of India itself.
We disagree. To be clear, we believe India is a vibrant democracy and an emerging superpower with an exciting future. We also believe India’s future is being held back by the Adani Group, which has draped itself in the Indian flag while systematically looting the nation.
We also believe that fraud is fraud, even when it’s perpetrated by one of the wealthiest individuals in the world.
In terms of substance, Adani’s ‘413 page’ response only included about 30 pages focused on issues related to our report.
The remainder of the response consisted of 330 pages of court records, along with 53 pages of high-level financials, general information, and details on irrelevant corporate initiatives, such as how it encourages female entrepreneurship and the production of safe vegetables
Our report detailed a vast labyrinth of offshore shell entities directed by or associated with Vinod Adani, the older brother of Chairman Gautam Adani. These entities included 38 entities in Mauritius, along with others in the UAE, Cyprus, Singapore, and various Caribbean islands.
We presented extensive evidence that these entities have been used for (1) stock parking / stock manipulation (2) or engineering Adani’s accounting.
Many of our questions were focused on both the nature of these transactions and the lack of disclosure around the clear conflicts of interest involved.
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