Gautam Adani can afford a smile about crisis year
BENGALURU – Gautam Adani, one of India’s richest men, is standing tall at the end of a difficult year. Shares in the tycoon’s publicly traded companies went into freefall in January after Hindenburg Research accused his empire of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. Adani denied the allegations calling it a “calculated attack” on India, but the infrastructure king’s disdain for his short-seller could soon give way to gratitude.
The losses were significantly pared back to $64 billion as of Thursday. At one point, the attack had wiped out more than $150 billion in market value from the group’s nine publicly listed companies. Shares of the flagship Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS) are still 18% lower, but his $27 billion Adani Ports (APSE.NS) and $24 billion Adani Power (ADAN.NS) are up 36% and 89% since Hindenburg’s missive on Jan. 24.
Adani made the most out of the crisis. To shore up investor confidence, it welcomed investors like GQG and Abu Dhabi conglomerate International Holding (IHC.AD) into some of its companies, helping to dilute the family’s tight shareholding. The tycoon also paid off loans backed by stock: only 2.4% of the shares in Adani Ports, for example, remain pledged as of the September quarter, down from 17.3% at the end of December 2022.
(Source: Reuters)
