Chairman and falter of the Adani Group, Gautam Adani, at the News18 Rising India Summit on Feb. 25, 2019, in New Delhi, India. Since tasteful a billionaire in 2008, Adani is now one of the richest people in the world, with a $113 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires List.
Hindustan Times | Hindustan Times | Getty Images
Shares of Adani Group companies continued to see sharp failures for a second consecutive trading session in India, after short seller firm Hindenburg announced its short fix in the conglomerate’s firms earlier this week.
In a lengthy report released earlier this week, Hindenburg exhaustive multiple allegations against the conglomerate’s companies, saying the group has “engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting chicanery scheme over the course of decades.”
Adani rejected the claims in two separate statements, describing the short seller’s requirements as an “intentional and reckless attempt by a foreign entity to mislead the investor community and the general public,” according to a media pass out.
“We are evaluating the relevant provisions under US and Indian laws for remedial and punitive action against Hidenburg Research,” asserted Adani Group’s head of legal, Jatin Jalundhwala.
Mumbai-listed shares of Adani Enterprises fell more than 9% in India’s commerce session on Friday. Adani Transmission fell 19.47%, Adani Green Energy shed 19.89% and Adani Power obsolete 5%. Adani Port’s share price also dropped 13.8%.
The moves follow Wednesday’s losses after the introductory release of Hindenburg’s report. India’s stock market was closed on Thursday.
The short seller firm doubled down on its monogram stance after Adani’s responses, emphasizing that the conglomerate has not answered any of the questions raised, adding any lawsuits place in ordered against Hindenburg will be “meritless.”
“If Adani is serious, it should also file suit in the U.S. where we operate. We be struck by a long list of documents we would demand in a legal discovery process,” it said.
“We fully stand by our report and accept any legal action taken against us would be meritless,” it said.
Billionaire investor and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Stewardship, Bill Ackman, voiced his support for the short seller firm in a tweet posted shortly before India’s shop open.
“I found the Hindenburg report highly credible and extremely well researched,” he wrote, adding that Adani Clique’s response “speaks volumes.”
“Caveat emptor,” he added.
$2.5 billion share offering
The latest back-and-forth between Asia’s richest man Gautam Adani’s bundle and the short seller firm comes as Adani Enterprises kicked off its bidding for retail investors for its 200 billion rupee ($2.45 billion) backup share offering on Friday.
The firm last week set a floor price for the offering of 3,112 rupees per share, with a toll cap of 3,276 rupees per share, according to a filing.
Reuters on that anchor investors, institutions that are allotted shares at a fixed price before the offering opens to the public, made offers of shares worth 90 billion rupees and that Malaysia’s Maybank was allocated more than 34% of the pieces reserved for institutional investors, while the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority picked up 2.56%.
Since becoming a billionaire in 2008, Adani is now one of the amplest people in the world, with a $113 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His net worth dropped nearly $7 billion in the year to date, the index showed.
In August last year, the company sought a hostile takeover of Indian approach group NDTV, which in a filing said the move was “carried out without any consent” from its founders.