Adani Group shares took a dive of 10 per cent on Friday after a Bloomberg report suggested that the US authorities are looking into what the company told its American investors after Hindenburg Research made accusations that the group used offshore companies to manipulate their share prices.
Shares of Adani Enterprises, a subsidiary of the Adani Group, experienced a significant decline of 10 per cent on BSE, with the stock price of Adani Enterprises plunging to a new low of Rs 2,162.8. Furthermore, the shares of Adani Ports and Adani Power, as well as Adani Transmission, all declined by more than 5 per cent, while the stock price of the other three Adani Group companies, Adani Total Gas and Adani Green Energy, declined by more than 3 per cent.
Also, the stock price of Wilmar, a subsidiary of Adani Group, declined by more than 2 per cent.
According to Bloomberg report, the US Attorney’s Office in New York has sent inquiries to institutional investors with large holdings in the Adani Group. The inquiries are focused on what was told to those institutional investors after Hindenburg published its reports in January 2023.
The report also stated that these inquiries may not necessarily mean that there will be any civil or criminal proceedings against the Adani Group.
However, news of this inquiry has affected the share prices of the Adani group companies.
Over the current regulatory scrutiny in US, Adani spokesperson in an emailed statement to Reuters, said, “Adani operates a robust corporate governance framework and is strongly committed to following all laws and regulations in all of its different markets. We strongly reject any suggestion that Adani Group and its businesses have not acted as per the regulations and accounting standards of the jurisdictions in which they operate.”
He further added, “We are not aware of any such subpoena to investors. Our various issuers groups remain confident that the disclosures are full and complete as disclosed in the relevant issuer offering circulars. We request the media to avoid needless speculation at this time and wait for SEBI and the Hon'ble Supreme Court to complete their work and submit their findings.”
In January 2023, a report was released by in January 2023, accusing the Adani Group of manipulating share prices by using its offshore companies situated in tax havens. The Hindenburg report also alleged that the group defied disclosure and shareholding laws.
However, Adani Group rejected all the accusations and claimed that the Hindenburg’s report was a calculated securities fraud.
