India’s Adani Group issued a detailed response on Sunday to a Hindenburg Research report that sparked a $48 billion rout in its stocks, saying it complies with all local laws and had made the necessary regulatory disclosures.
The conglomerate led by Asia’s richest man, the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, said last week’s Hindenburg report was intended to enable the US-based short seller to book gains, without citing evidence.
For 60-year-old Adani, the stock market meltdown has been a dramatic setback for a school-dropout who rose swiftly in recent years to become the world’s third richest man, before slipping last week to rank seventh on the Forbes rich list.
Adani Group’s response comes as its flagship company, Adani Enterprises, pushes ahead with a $2.5 billion share sale. This has been overshadowed by Hindenburg’s report, which flagged concerns about debt levels and the use of tax havens.
“All transactions entered into by us with entities who qualify as ‘related parties’ under Indian laws and accounting standards have been duly disclosed by us,” Adani said in the 413-page response issued late on Sunday.
“This 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,” it added.
Hindenburg did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Adani response on Sunday.
Its report had questioned how the Adani Group has used offshore entities in tax havens such as Mauritius and the Caribbean islands, adding that certain offshore funds and shell companies “surreptitiously” own stock in Adani’s listed firms.
News Source: Khaleej Times
