Adani says short seller profited from fall in stock prices

New Delhi, Jun 27 : Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani on Tuesday addressed the report released by US short seller Hindenburg Research, which alleged the conglomerate of stock market manipulation and accounting frauds, and said that it was a combination of “targeted misinformation and outdated, discredited allegations.” The billionaire said that the short seller generated profits through a ‘deliberate drive-down' of stock prices of Adani group firms. In a message to shareholders, Gautam Adani said, “On the eve of our Republic Day, a US-based short seller published a report just as we were planning to launch the largest Follow-on Public Offering (FPO) in India's history. The report was a combination of targeted misinformation and outdated, discredited allegations aimed at damaging our reputation and generating profits through a deliberate drive-down of our stock prices.”
Adani, 61, added that despite a fully subscribed FPO of the group's flagship firm, Adani Enterprises, the company decided to withdraw and return the money to investors to protect their interests. He further said in the annual report of Adani Enterprises, “The short-selling incident resulted in several adverse consequences that the company had to confront. Even though we promptly issued a comprehensive rebuttal, various vested interests tried to opportunistically exploit the claims made by the short seller. These entities engaged and encouraged false narratives across various news and social media platforms.” On January 24, Hindenburg Research published its report against the group, alleging that the conglomerate was involved in fraudulent transactions, accounting frauds, and stock market manipulation. The report led to a massive stock rout in Adani group companies. The group's chairman also added that the Supreme Court-appointed Expert Committee did not find any regulatory failure. The apex court had appointed an expert panel to probe into the incident, and has also asked the capital markets regulator Sebi to submit its investigation report on the same till August 14. “The Committee's Report not only observed that the mitigating measures, undertaken by your company helped rebuild confidence but also cited that there were credible charges of concerted destabilization of the Indian markets. It also confirmed the quality of our Group's disclosures and found no instance of regulatory failure or any breach,” Adani said. He added, “While the SEBI is still to submit its report in the months ahead, we remain confident of our governance and disclosure standards.”