The shares of the Adani Group’s listed units slumped sharply on Thursday after U.S. prosecutors indicted the Indian conglomerate’s billionaire founder over his alleged involvement in a scheme to pay $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure lucrative energy supply contracts.
Adani Group's chairman and founder Gautam Adani addresses a gathering during the inaugural session ... [+]
Shares of the conglomerate’s flagship firm Adani Enterprises slumped around 21.55% to $26.22 (₹2,213.60) after markets opened in India on Thursday.
The stock price of Adani Green Energy, the unit directly linked to the Justice Department’s indictment, was down 17.57% to $13.79 (₹1,164.45)
The green energy unit also canceled a planned $600 million bond sale after the indictment on Thursday.
In a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange, the firm mentioned the U.S. indictment and said: “In light of these developments, our subsidiaries have presently decided not to proceed with the proposed USD denominated bond offerings.”
Among the conglomerate’s other listed firms, Adani Power was down nearly 11.5%, Adani Ports fell more than 17.5%, Adani Energy Solutions dropped 19% and Adani Total Gas was down almost 13%.
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According to our estimates, Gautam Adani’s net worth has slumped by $13.5 billion to $57.5 billion. This makes Adani the 25th richest person in the world on Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires list, down from the 22nd spot on Wednesday. Despite the drop, the Indian billionaire remains the second richest Asian on the list, behind his countryman Mukesh Ambani.
Billionaire Gautam Adani Charged For Alleged $250 Million Bribery Scheme (Forbes)