The Adani Group is facing fresh scrutiny as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has accused Pranav Adani, nephew of the group founder Gautam Adani, of violating insider trading norms by sharing price-sensitive information.
Pranav Adani also holds directorial-level positions in several group firms.
Last year, the market watchdog had reportedly issued a notice to Pranav Adani. As per sources cited in a report by Reuters, the notice alleged that he shared information about Adani Green's 2021 acquisition of SoftBank-backed SB Energy Holdings with his brother-in-law before the deal was publicly announced.
Pranav Adani said in an e-mail response to Reuters that he was looking to settle the charges "to put an end to the matter, without admission or denial of the allegations" and that "he has not violated any securities law".
As of now, the settlement terms are being discussed, sources cited in the report said.
According to the SEBI document, Pranav Adani "communicated UPSI (unpublished price sensitive information) pertaining to the SB Energy acquisition" with his brother-in-law, Kunal Shah, in 2021, a move that violated insider trading regulations. Kunal Shah and his brother, Nrupal Shah, later used the same information to buy Adani Green shares and made a profit of Rs 90 lakh.
However, the Shah brothers said in a statement via their lawyers that the trades were not implemented with the "knowledge of any unpublished price sensitive information nor with any mala fide intent."
"The information in question was already generally available in the public domain," they said.
SB Energy Acquisition
Adani Green acquired SB Energy in 2021 at an enterprise value of $3.5 billion. The whopping amount made it the largest acquisition in India's renewable energy sector.
Pranav Adani was reportedly aware of the acquisition a few days before the actual deal was finalised. While Sebi has offered the Shah brothers a chance to settle the case, they have chosen to challenge the allegations calling the terms "too onerous", sources said.
Previously, SB Energy India was a joint venture between SoftBank Group Corp (holding the majority stake) and Bharti Group.
