Shares of Adani Group’s listed firms slumped on Monday after the Hindenburg Group published a report over the weekend accusing the Indian market regulator’s chief of a conflict of interest that allegedly prevented a proper investigation into the American short seller’s earlier claims of fraud and stock manipulation by the conglomerate.
Adani Group chairperson and founder Gautam Adani's fortune slipped again on Monday after ... [+]
Shares of the conglomerate’s flagship firm Adani Enterprises dropped more than 5% to $35.9 (Rs 3,013) after the Indian stock markets opened on Monday, before recovering to $37.42 (Rs 3,145).
Adani Power’s shares dropped more than 10% to $7.37 (Rs 619), but soon recovered to $8.04 (Rs 675)—down 2.9% from Friday’s closing.
Shares of the group’s other key listed firms—Adani Energy, Adani Green, Adani Total Gas and Adani Ports—were also hit on Monday, falling between 1-4%.
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According to our estimates, Gautam Adani’s net worth is $83.9 billion, down $1.5 billion due to Monday’s selloff. Despite this, he remains both India’s and Asia’s second richest person behind Mukesh Ambani.
In a report published on Saturday, New York-based short seller Hindenburg Research alleged Madhabi Puri Buch, the chair of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and her husband, Dhaval Buch, invested in offshore funds linked to Adani in Bermuda and Mauritius. Adani’s brother Vinod Adani allegedly used these funds to purchase and trade “large positions in shares of the Adani Group,” the report alleged. Buch and her husband made the investments in 2015—two years before she joined SEBI, the report said, citing “whistleblower documents.” The conglomerate, however, has vehemently denied these allegations and Adani has labeled them as a “malicious” attack on his company and India’s economic growth.
This is a developing story.