Adani Group’s full response to Hindenburg is expected after the share sale
By PR Sanjai and Eltaf Unpublished
Adani Group will release a detailed response to allegations by US short-seller Hindenburg Research only after the completion of a new share sale due to close on January 31, according to people familiar with the matter.
The conglomerate owned by Asia’s richest man Gautam Adani had said it would provide a detailed rebuttal on Friday, according to bondholders who took part in a conference call with Adani executives. Although it had answered some questions, the answer was no longer what was expected.
The group has drafted a more than 100-page response and is also seeking legal advice on when to release it, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Although it won̵[ads1]7;t be until January 31, the people did not specify when the answer would come.
A representative for the conglomerate declined to comment.
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Hindenburg released his report just days before the billionaire’s flagship firm Adani Enterprises Ltd launched India’s largest-ever primary follow-on public offering seeking to raise Rs 20,000 crore ($2.5 billion). It was intended to finance capital expenditure and to pay off the debts of the various entities.
Hindenburg claimed its two-year investigation found Adani Group “engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over decades” and called out the conglomerate’s “significant debt”. The firm said it shorted Adani Group through US-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivatives and that the report “exclusively pertains to the valuation of securities traded outside India.”
The group lost more than $50 billion in market value in two sessions, costing Adani himself more than $20 billion, or about a fifth of his total wealth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Adani Group said on Thursday it was exploring legal action against the research firm, calling Hindenburg’s report “maliciously mischievous”, “false” and “not vetted”.
