Not Aware Of Subpoena From US Regulators To Investors: Adani Group

The comment came in as a response to a report which said that US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, New York, has sent inquiries to investors holding significant stakes in the Adani Group

Adani Group on Friday said that it is not any subpoenas from the US regulators to its investors. The comment came in as a response to a report which said that US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, New York, has sent inquiries to investors holding significant stakes in Adani Group, seeking information about the communications made by the conglomerate following the Hindenberg Report. 

Bloomberg earlier reported that US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn has sent inquiries in recent months to institutional investors with large holdings in Adani Group. The requests for information were focused on what Adani Group told those investors regarding the Hindenburg report. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also has a similar probe underway, the report said citing two people familiar with the matter.

“Adani operates a robust corporate governance framework and is strongly committed to following all laws and regulations in all of its different markets. We strongly reject any suggestion that Adani Group and its businesses have not acted as per the regulations and accounting standards of the jurisdictions in which they operate," said Adani Group spokesperson told Businessline. 

“We are not aware of any such subpoena to investors. Our various issuers groups remain confident that the disclosures are full and complete as disclosed in the relevant issuer offering circulars. We request the media to avoid needless speculation at this time and wait for SEBI and the Hon'ble Supreme Court to complete their work and submit their findings," it added.

Adani Group’s troubles began when Hindenburg on January 24 released a report accusing the conglomerate of using a network of offshore companies in tax havens to embellish share prices and financial results. The report also alleged that the group had flouted disclosure and shareholding laws.

The conglomerate rejected the accusations and said in a lengthy rebuttal that Hindenburg’s report was “nothing short of a calculated securities fraud.” Still, a steep share price decline followed that at one point wiped as much as $153 billion off the combined market value of Adani Group’s 10 publicly traded businesses.

Some investors divested quickly. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Adani Group stocks from its ESG funds in the weeks following the report. Other institutional money managers, like BlackRock Inc. and the fund management unit of Deutsche Bank AG, stayed put. In the months following the report, GQG Partners LLC had spent about $2.5 billion on five Adani Group stocks.

According to reports, Adani Group stocks tumbled after the report of US attorney inquiries to investors holding large stakes. Shares of Adani Group companies fell up to 10 per cent in Friday's session. Shares of flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd fell as much as 9.8 per cent to Rs 2,163.3, the lowest since May 22.

As per the Supreme Court's directive, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was tasked with investigating the allegations and presenting its findings to a six-member expert panel. The panel reviewed the explanations given by the regulator that there was no evident pattern of manipulative contribution to price rise.