Displaying items by tag: Hindenburg Research

India: The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has obtained documents which allegedly show how two people with close ties to the owners of Adani Group invested significantly in the group. Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling traded in Adani Group shares through a Mauritius-based investment fund. The OCCRP reports that Ahli and Chang might be found to have been acting on behalf of Adani promoters. If so, their shareholding would bring insider investment in Adani Group to over 75%. This would potentially indicate stock manipulation under Indian law. Ahli and Changs’ investment management company reportedly paid a company owned by Vinod Adani, the brother of Adani Group chair Gautam Adani, for investment advice.

Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli is a Dubai-based business consultant, who is listed as an officer in a British Virgin Islands-based securities investment firm linked to Adani Group. Meanwhile, China-based Chang Chung-Ling has held positions on the boards of multiple Adani Group companies.

Adani Group replied “Contrary to your claim of new evidence/proofs, these are nothing but a rehash of unsubstantiated allegations levelled in the Hindenburg report. Our response to the Hindenburg report is available on our website. Suffice it to state that there is neither any truth to nor any basis for making any of the said allegations against the Adani Group and its promoters, and we expressly reject all of them."

India: ACC says that it will not carry out an independent investigation into its parent company Adani Group. US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud involving a 'labyrinthine network' of shell companies in January 2023. Prior to making its accusations, Hindenburg Research obtained a short position on Adani Group. An investigation into Adani Group's activities by the Securities and Exchange Board of India will conclude on 14 August 2023. Filings have also been submitted to the Supreme Court of India.

The Business Standard newspaper has reported that ACC said "Pending final outcome of regulatory investigations and related proceedings, the company has decided to not carry out any separate independent investigation in the matter, and the financial results do not carry any adjustments in this regard." It added "The expert committee submitted its report in the matter dated 6 May 2023, finding no regulatory failure."

Adani Group's original rebuttal of the allegations can be read online here.

India/US: The US Attorney's Office has requested that large Adani Group shareholders submit correspondence from the group. Reuters has reported that the office is investigating representations made by India-based Adani to its US investors, following fraud allegations by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research.

An Adani Group spokesperson said "We are not aware of any such subpoena to investors."

India: Adani Group is in talks with lenders to repay a US$500m bridging loan facility it used to buy controlling stakes in ACC and Ambuja Cements in 2022. Adani is looking to repay the loan with cash during February 2023, according to the Economic Times. The loan was underwritten by Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered. The financial consortium lending to Adani also includes DBS, MUFG, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Intesa and Mizuho.

The Economic Times’ report comes a day after the group said its companies face no material refinancing risk or near-term liquidity issues, in its latest attempt to calm investors spooked by Hindenburg Research’s critical report on its business practices.

India: Adani Group has issued a rebuttal against a recent report by Hindenburg Research accusing it of accounting fraud and stock manipulation. In the 413-page rebuttal, the group identifies the report as a 'calculated attack on India.' Adani Group clarified that that its operations complied with 'all local laws' and that it had made necessary regulatory disclosures, according to the group.

BBC News has reported that Hindenburg Research denied the accusation of anti-Indian sentiment, calling the country an 'emerging superpower with an exciting future.' Hindenburg Research said "India's future is being held back by the Adani Group, which has draped itself in the Indian flag while systematically looting the nation."

Hindenburg Research accused Adani Group in late January 2023 of conducting a 'stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme' over a period of ‘decades.’ It published its allegations in a report on its website. The investment research firm also disclosed that it had taken a short position on Adani Group, meaning that it might make money should the price of shares in Adani Group drop.

The full rebutal by Adani Group can be read online here

India: Investment research firm Hindenburg Research has accused Adani Group of conducting a 'stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme' over a period of ‘decades.’ The US-based firm alleged that listed companies belonging to Adani Group are indirectly part-owned by shell entities and funds connected to the Adani family’s private offshore trusts and companies. The listed companies have purportedly paid money into the offshore trusts and companies, which in turn funded the shell entities and funds investing and trading in Adani Group stocks. Hindenburg Research said that four Adani Group listed companies are ‘near the delisting threshold’ under Indian law requiring a minimum 25% non-promoter holding in listed companies.

Bloomberg has reported that Hindenburg Research said that its two-year investigation into Adani Group uncovered a ‘vast labyrinth of offshore shells’ managed by Adani Group chair Gautam Adani’s brother Vinod Adani. It identified 38 such shell entities based in Mauritius, and other entities based in Cyprus, Singapore, the UAE and the Caribbean. It reported that ‘many’ Vinod Adani-controlled entities show ‘no obvious signs of operations.’ Nonetheless, they have collectively ‘moved billions of dollars.’ Hindenburg Research has uncovered evidence of what it called ‘efforts that seem designed to mask the shell entities, including recurrent listings of ‘nonsensical services’ on their websites. Many of these allegedly have no named employees, and were formed on the same days as others. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) confirmed that the offshore funds in question are subject to an on-going investigation.

In a statement, Adani Group’s chief financial officer (CFO) Jugeshinder Singh said that Hindenburg Research had not made “any attempt to contact us or verify the factual matrix.” Singh described the allegations “stale, baseless and discredited.”

Hindenburg Research has taken a short position on Adani Group, meaning that it may make money should the price of shares in Adani Group drop.

Separately, Adani Group acquired a 63% stake in Ambuja Cements and a 57% stake in ACC from Switzerland-based Holcim through an offshore special purpose vehicle (SPV) in September 2022.

Hindenburg Research's report on Adani Group, entitled ‘Adani Group: How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History’ can be found here.