New Delhi – Losses for troubled India’s second-largest conglomerate Adani Group deepened on Friday as its flagship company’s share price plunged another 25%, continuing a week-long decline that wiped out tens of billions of dollars in market value. was broken.
The debacle that saw the group’s flagship company, Adani Enterprises, pull out of a public offering intended to raise $2.5 billion, prompted US short-selling firm Hindenburg Research to issue a report alleging the group was involved. After that, it gathered calls for regulators to investigate. Market manipulation and other fraudulent activities. Adani denies the allegations.
Opposition lawmakers blocked parliamentary proceedings for the second day on Friday, chanting slogans and demanding an investigation into the business dealings of coal magnate Gautam Adani, who is said to have close ties to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The government remains silent. A spokeswoman for the Treasury Department told The Associated Press that it did not plan to comment. Amit Malviya, head of information technology for the ruling Bharatiya Janata party, said in a television interview that the opposition was using Adani’s crisis to target the Modi government and what had happened was that “regulators We are investigating,” he said.
India’s market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission of India, also declined to comment. The Economic Times, citing unnamed sources, reported that the agency had asked the stock exchange to check Adani shares for unusual movements.
Adani Enterprises shares traded about 15% lower after dropping as much as 30% to 1,017 rupees ($12) on Friday. Since Hindenburg released its report last week, the company’s share price has fallen about 66%, at 3,436 rupees ($41) at the time. Shares of his six other Adani-listed companies fell between 5% and 10% on Friday.
Adani, who made his fortune mining and trading coal before venturing into construction, power generation, manufacturing and media, was the richest man in Asia and the third richest in the world before the troubles began with Hindenburg’s report. was wealthy.
By Friday, his net worth had halved to $61 billion, falling to 21st place in the world, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
He has spoken little publicly since the troubles began, but in a video address after Adani Enterprises canceled its already fully-subscribed public offering, he promised to pay back investors. It said it was reviewing its funding plans.
Hindenburg’s report said it placed bets on seven of Adani’s publicly traded companies and judged it to have an “85% downside based purely on fundamentals due to very high valuations.” Other allegations in the report included concerns about debt, the use of offshore shell companies to artificially boost stock prices, and past fraud investigations.
Adani’s rapid debt-driven expansion in recent years has seen his net worth skyrocket by nearly 2,000%. Even before last week, critics said his rise was fueled by Modi’s apparent close ties to his government. He says he has succeeded in aligning matters with government priorities, but he notes that he also has major infrastructure projects in opposition-controlled provinces.
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https://www.local10.com/business/2023/02/03/indian-tycoon-adani-hit-by-more-losses-calls-for-probe/ Indian tycoon Adani suffers further losses, calls for investigation