Displaying items by tag: Securities and Exchange Board of India

India: The Supreme Court will hear the case against Adani Group over its alleged financial misrepresentation and stock manipulation on 24 November 2023, 24 days after the previous deferred date of 30 October 2023. BusinessWorld News has reported that the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) is currently ‘scrutinising’ the group's auditors, S.R. Batliboi, while the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is investigating British Virgin Islands-based investment fund Gulf Asia Trade & Investment for possible violations of share ownership regulations in connection with the Adani Group.

Adani Group says that it has committed no wrongdoing.

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: 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.

India: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has fined Jaypee Infratech US$9140 for its failure to disclose its issue of a series of non-convertible debt securities. The company additionally failed to inform the BSE exchange of defaults in payment with respect to some of the series.

India: Nuvoco Vistas has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India to launch an initial public offering (IPO) of shares worth US$670m. The Hindu newspaper has reported that the offering will consist of a US$201m issuance of shares and a US$469m offer for sale. Around US$180m of the funds will be used to reduce the group’s debts and the remainder will be used for general corporate purposes.

India: Penna Cement has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for a US$220m initial public offering (IPO). The company intends to use the funds to pay off debts and for general corporate purposes, according to the Hindu newspaper. The cement producer operates four integrated plants and two grinding plants in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra that share a total production capacity of 10Mt/yr.

India: Penna Cement has filed for a US$211m initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). It plans to use the funds for expansion and to reduce its debts, according to the Economic Times newspaper. the cement producer is planning to increase its production capacity to 16.5Mt/yr by 2020 with projects in Odisha and Kolkata. At present it holds a capacity of 10Mt/yr in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra.

India: LafargeHolcim has received the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to simplify its corporate structure. The transaction has already been approved by all other stakeholders, including independent directors, minority shareholders, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, stock exchanges and respective High Courts in India. LafargeHolcim is now awaiting formal communication from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board in order to close the transaction.

Through intragroup restructuring, LafargeHolcim will increase its shareholding in Ambuja to 61.14%. Ambuja, in turn, will acquire LafargeHolcim’s 50.05% stake in ACC Limited.

The transaction will be effected through a merger of Holcim India Private Ltd. (HIPL), a wholly owned financial holding subsidiary, with Ambuja. In a two-stage deal, Ambuja will first acquire, through a purchase, a 24% stake in HIPL for a cash consideration of US$521m, followed by a stock merger between HIPL and Ambuja. As part of the merger, LafargeHolcim will receive 584 million new equity shares of Ambuja resulting in an increase of its ownership in Ambuja from the current 50.28% to 61.14%.

India: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved Anjani Portland Cement for a rights issue to raise US$11.3m. The proceeds from the offering will be used to build a 16MW coal-based captive power plant at one of the company's cement plants.

SEBI received draft documents for the rights issue on 30 December 2015 and issued its 'observations' on 23 March 2016. Issuance of 'observations' by SEBI is considered as a clearance to the issuer to go ahead with the share issues.