$50 billion hit: Investigation brings down Adani Group

The value of the shares of one of India’s largest conglomerates, the Adani Group, collapsed by about $50 billion after an analytical firm published a wide-ranging investigation, according to which the group’s companies were involved in market and accounting manipulations for decades. world agencies report.

The author of the revelations is the company Hindenburg Research, which is engaged in selling short positions (in practice – betting that a given company will reduce its value – note) – including Adani Group shares. Tuesday’s post claimed that after a 2-year investigation, evidence had been collected of the “largest fraud in corporate history.”

Hindenburg claims that the Adani companies are deeply in debt, and meanwhile a network of offshore companies has been built up in places like Cyprus, Mauritius and the Caribbean, which show no signs of activity, yet billions of dollars have passed through them.

According to the authors of the investigation, the boss of the Adani Group – Gautam Adani, the richest man in Asia, has gained about $ 100 billion of his fortune (out of a total of $ 113 billion) as a result of the up to 800% jump in the share price of his companies. They are developing in various fields, including logistics, mining, media, data centers, airports and cement production.

This Indian billionaire has become the third richest person in the world

He has increased his wealth by $60 billion

As expected, the corporation accused Hindenburg of deliberately trying to harm their business, but it is not known whether they will file a lawsuit. The authors of the investigation announced that they could support each of their claims with documents if a lawsuit were to be brought to the territory of the United States.

The issue has also become political in India. According to opposition figures, Adani has been so successful in business because of its closeness to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and that is why the country’s regulators need to step in. As the BBC notes, this is unlikely to happen.

One of the richest people in Asia became poorer by $9 billion in 3 days

After the collapse of the shares of his conglomerate Adani Group

Many questions are being raised about the integrity of the entire Indian market, which finds itself caught between the hammer and the anvil of financial globalization and political nationalism, notes Bloomberg columnist Andy Mukherjee.