MARKET WIPEOUT HITS $100 BILLION AS GAUTAM ADANI FAILS TO CALM INVESTORS

Thu 02 February 2023:

The value of Gautam Adani’s conglomerate has lost $100 billion due to the stock market collapse, and shares of his companies continued to decline on Thursday. This was despite the Indian billionaire’s efforts to calm his anxious investors, CNN reported.

“For me, the interest of my investors is paramount and everything is secondary,” the 60-year-old businessman said in a recorded video address posted after he abruptly abandoned a $2.5 billion deal to sell new shares in his flagship company, Adani Enterprises, just 24 hours after it was sealed.

“Once the market stabilizes, we will review our capital market strategy,” he added

Adani is seen as a close ally of India’s prime minister. And ppposition lawmakers have begun asking for a probe into the Hindenburg report. They even staged a protest in India’s parliament on Wednesday while the country’s finance minister presented the annual budget.

Reuters reported Wednesday that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was examining the stock price falls and also looking into any possible irregularities in the abortive share sale, citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter. The SEBI has so far not responded to requests for comment.

India’s central bank has asked lenders for details on their debt exposure to the Adani Group, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources. The Reserve Bank of India did not respond to a request for comment.

The fallout from the Hindenburg report could engulf other large Indian businesses, experts warned.

“The Adani saga has opened a big can of worms,” said Manish Chowdhury, head of research at brokerage Stoxbox. “The India story is looking weak” to foreign investors now, he added.

Shares in the billionaire’s conglomerate have plunged since the US-based short-seller, Hindenburg Research, raised debt and accounting concerns last week, driving the value of Adani’s companies $86bn lower, with the tycoon also losing his crown as Asia’s richest person.

Adani Group has denied the allegations, saying the short-seller’s allegation of stock manipulation has “no basis” and stems from an ignorance of Indian law. The group has always made the necessary regulatory disclosures, it said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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