Hindenburg report alleged fraud by its firms, Adani Group says ‘attack on India’

Our Reply To Adani:

Fraud Cannot Be Obfuscated By Nationalism Or A Bloated Response That Ignores Every Key Allegation We Raisedhttps://t.co/ohNAX90BDf

— Hindenburg Research (@HindenburgRes) January 30, 2023

“It is tremendously concerning that the statements of an entity sitting thousands of miles away, with no credibility or ethics has caused serious and unprecedented adverse impact on our investors,” the Adani Group said.

The report by the New York firm has led to the Adani Group losing more than USD 50 billion in market value in just two trading sessions and Chairman Gautam Adani losing over USD 20 billion, or about one-fifth of his total fortune.

Questioning the timing of the report — two days ahead of the FPO by its flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd — the group said, “The mala fide intention underlying the report is apparent given its timing when Adani Enterprises Limited is undertaking what would be the largest ever further public offering of equity shares in India.”

The Adani Group’s response said the Hindenburg report is “neither ‘independent’ nor ‘objective’ nor ‘well researched’”, while reaffirming that the Group is in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.

The report, the Adani Group said, is a “malicious combination of selective misinformation and concealed facts relating to baseless and discredited allegations to drive an ulterior motive”.

“The report is rife with conflict of interest and intended only to create a false market in securities to enable Hindenburg, an admitted short seller, to book massive financial gain through wrongful means at the cost of countless investors,” the Group further said.

Questioning Hindenburg Research’s credentials, it said, “Ironically for an organization that seeks transparency and openness, nothing much is known about either Hindenburg or its employees or its investors. Its website alleges that the organisation has an experience that ‘spans decades’ and yet appears to have been set up only in 2017”.

Since the release of the Hindenburg Research report on January 24, Adani Group stocks saw a massive sell-off. Over the last two trading sessions, on Wednesday and Friday, 10 listed Adani companies lost Rs 4.17 lakh crore in market cap.

“While we are under no obligation whatsoever to respond to these baseless allegations made in the report, in the spirit of good governance, transparency to our stakeholders and to avoid false market, we provide our responses to the Report as also the ‘88 questions’ raised in the report,” the Adani Group said.

Saying Hindenburg has “not published the report for any altruistic reasons but purely out of selfish motives and in flagrant breach of applicable securities and foreign exchange laws”, the Group said, “The truth of the matter is that Hindenburg is an unethical short seller. A short seller in the securities market books gain from the subsequent reduction in prices of shares.”

Saying the Adani Group “is in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations”, the response said, “The Adani Portfolio also has very strong internal controls and audit controls. All the listed companies of Adani Portfolio have a robust governance framework.”