Adani Group Shares Fall Sharply on Manipulation Charges, Group Questions Timing of Hindenburg Report

New Delhi: Shares of Adani Group companies fell sharply on Wednesday following a report by Hindenburg Research that accused the Indian conglomerate of engaging in clear “stock manipulation and accounting fraud over the decades”.

As soon as the Hindenburg report hit the social media, shares of Adani Transmission dropped sharply 8.87 percent to close at Rs 2,511.75 per scrip on the BSE. Similarly, shares of Adani Ports & SEZ, Adani Total Gas, Adani Wilmar and Adani Power, Adani Green Energy, Adani Enterprises, Ambuja Cements and ACC and its media firm NDTV also tanked on the stock exchange. 
 
Recently, the renowned US short-seller released its report after two years of investigation. It is reported to have interviewed several people including the former senior executives of the Indian giant and also examined thousands of documents. 

Gautam Adani, the founder and chairman of the Adani Group, has a net worth of about $120 billion, which he has increased by over $100 billion in just three years. 

The forensic financial research company in its report said Adani family has several shell entities in tax havens spanning the Caribbean and Mauritius to the UAE, which it claims were used to facilitate corruption, money laundering and taxpayer theft. The report also said seven Adani listed companies have an 85 percent downside on a fundamental basis due to what it called ‘sky-high valuations’.

Meanwhile, responding to the release of Hindenburg Research, Adani Group CFO Jugeshinder Singh expressed shock and termed it as malicious.

“The timing of the report’s publication clearly betrays a brazen, mala fide intention to undermine the Adani Group’s reputation with the principal objective of damaging the upcoming follow-on public offering from Adani Enterprises, the biggest FPO ever in India,” said Jugeshinder Singh. 

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