Adani hits again at Hindenburg, says it made all disclosures

NEW DELHI, Jan 30 (Reuters) – India’s Adani Group issued an in depth riposte on Sunday to a Hindenburg Analysis report that sparked a $48 billion rout in its shares, saying it complies with all native legal guidelines and had made the mandatory regulatory disclosures.

The conglomerate led by Asia’s richest man, the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, mentioned final week’s Hindenburg report was supposed to allow the U.S.-based quick vendor to guide positive aspects, with out citing proof.

For 60-year-old Adani, the inventory market meltdown has been a dramatic setback for a school-dropout who rose swiftly lately to develop into the world’s third richest man, earlier than slipping final week to rank seventh on the Forbes wealthy listing.

Adani Group’s response comes as its flagship firm, Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS), pushes forward with a $2.5 billion share sale. This has been overshadowed by Hindenburg’s report, which flagged considerations about debt ranges and the usage of tax havens.

“All transactions entered into by us with entities who qualify as ‘associated events’ underneath Indian legal guidelines and accounting requirements have been duly disclosed by us,” Adani mentioned within the 413-page response issued late on Sunday.

“That is rife with battle of curiosity and supposed solely to create a false market in securities to allow Hindenburg, an admitted quick vendor, to guide huge monetary acquire via wrongful means at the price of numerous buyers,” it added.

Hindenburg didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the Adani response on Sunday.

Its report had questioned how the Adani Group has used offshore entities in tax havens reminiscent of Mauritius and the Caribbean islands, including that sure offshore funds and shell corporations “surreptitiously” personal inventory in Adani’s listed companies.

The analysis report, Adani mentioned, made “deceptive claims round offshore entities” with none proof in any way.

Adani mentioned on Thursday that it’s contemplating taking motion towards Hindenburg, which responded on the identical day by saying it might welcome such a transfer.

Hindenburg’s report additionally mentioned 5 of seven key listed Adani corporations have reported present ratios, a measure of liquid property minus near-term liabilities, of under 1 which it mentioned urged “a heightened short-term liquidity threat”.

It mentioned key listed Adani corporations had “substantial debt” which has put all the group on a “precarious monetary footing” and that shares in seven Adani listed corporations have an 85% draw back because of what it referred to as “sky-high valuations”.

Adani’s response acknowledged that over the previous decade, its group corporations have “persistently de-levered”.

Defending its apply on pledging shares of its promoters – or key shareholders – the Adani Group mentioned that elevating financing towards shares as collateral was frequent apply globally and loans are given by massive establishments and banks on the again of thorough credit score evaluation.

The group added there’s a sturdy disclosure system in place in India and its promoter pledge positions throughout portfolio corporations had dropped from greater than 50% in March 2020 in some listed shares, to lower than 20% in December 2022.

‘SAIL THROUGH’

The Hindenburg report, and its fallout, is seen as one of many largest profession challenges to face the billionaire, whose enterprise pursuits vary from ports, airports, mining and energy to media and cement.

Adani’s response included greater than 350 pages of annexes that included snippets from annual stories, public disclosures and earlier courtroom rulings.

Hindenburg, Adani mentioned, had sought solutions to 88 questions in its report, however 65 of them have been associated to issues which have been disclosed by Adani portfolio corporations in annual stories.

The remainder, Adani mentioned, relate to public shareholders and third events, and a few have been “baseless allegations based mostly on imaginary truth patterns”.

Hindenburg, recognized for having shorted electrical truck maker Nikola Corp (NKLA.O) and Twitter, mentioned it holds quick positions in Adani corporations via U.S.-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded by-product devices.

Adani additionally responded to allegations by Hindenburg regarding the corporate’s auditors, saying “all these auditors who’ve been engaged by us have been duly licensed and certified by the related statutory our bodies.”

Its response comes simply hours forward of India market opening, when the $2.5 billion secondary share sale begins its second day of subscription. Friday’s plunge took Adani Enterprises shares under the difficulty worth, elevating doubts about its success.

In a separate assertion on Sunday, Adani Group’s chief monetary officer Jugeshinder Singh mentioned it’s targeted on the share sale and is assured it is going to succeed. He additionally mentioned its anchor buyers have proven religion and stay invested.

“We’re assured the FPO (follow-on public providing) can even sail via,” he mentioned.

Reporting by Aditya Kalra, Aditi Shah, Jayshree Upadhyay and Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Kevin Liffey and Alexander Smith

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