Gautam Adani had the best year of his life in 2022. The billionaire, owner of the Indian conglomerate Adani Group, earned $40 billion and became the third richest person in the world, after Arnault and Musk, until January 2023. kryptoniteNate Anderson, founder of Hindenburg Research, an investment research firm specializing in short selling and aimed at detecting “man-made disasters” such as accounting irregularities, mismanagement and undisclosed related-party transactions. “Blatant market manipulation, accounting fraud and the biggest scam in corporate history” were the first accusations made against the tycoon. Shares affiliated with the group sold off sharply after the report was released, and Adani’s net worth fell by $6 billion overnight.
The months following the Hindenburg report were a real nightmare for the businessman, who lost a large part of his fortune, around $120 billion. This caused a lack of confidence on the part of foreign investors: on the one hand, TotalEnergies announced its decision to halt a planned $4 billion investment in a green hydrogen project with the Adani Group, saying it is waiting for more clarity before moving forward; on the other, foreign banks of the caliber of Citi Group (he was one of the main advisors in its debt market operations since 2014) or Credit Suisse They also distanced themselves from the group and suspended lending on Adani’s dollar bonds or stopped offering loans on the conglomerate’s securities.
Adani spent several months trying to calm investors and, hoping to sell a message of optimism, Adani Group executives regularly traveled from the company’s headquarters in Ahmedabad to Dubai, London and New York, in the goal to personally meet around 100 international bond investors and convince them that everything is under control. “The group is doing everything it can to restore investor confidence,” the group then revealed.
In March, India’s Supreme Court set up a six-member independent panel to investigate the allegations in the report. And in May it was concluded that “no results” had been obtained in its investigation into the Adani group, he revealed. Reuters. It was a mini victory for Adani, a relief for the months to come. It was already December 2023 when Adani Enterprise shares recovered and concluded the year with more modest declines of 26%.
a little respite
In January 2024, the Supreme Court of India announced that the Adani Group would not be subject to further investigations beyond the control of the market regulator, providing significant respite to the conglomerate. At the time, Adani took to his X account and expressed his gratitude to those who had “supported” the group. “”The decision of the honorable Supreme Court shows that the truth prevailed“, he wrote, adding that “our humble contribution to India’s growth will continue.” This judicial pardon took his income to $10.2 billion, placing him once again as India’s the richest in the world (surpassing Mukesh Ambani), with current assets of 94.5 billion, and returning to the top positions of the largest assets in the world.
However, the tycoon’s joy was short-lived as in August he received a new Hindenburg report accusing the chairman of India’s capital markets regulator of having conflicts of interest that prevented a thorough investigation into the fraud allegations. The said report claimed that SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband had previously held funds abroad which were also used by the Adani group. Both denied the accusations and said the report’s claims were unfounded.
Back in the eye of the hurricane
The billionaire has once again hit the headlines after an accusation from the Justice in the United States to orchestrate a corruption scheme against Indian officials and defraud American investors. According to the indictment, the once-modest trader participated in an alleged $250 million bribery scheme to obtain solar power contracts in India. These include illegal financial deals to secure government contracts, including the development of what claims to be India’s largest solar power plant.
In this way, the SECOND accused Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Green, and his nephew, Sagar Adani, chief executive, of orchestrating a corruption scheme involving “paying or promising to pay” the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars in pots wine to representatives of the Indian government. to secure its commitment to purchase electricity at above-market rates, which would benefit Adani Green and Azure Power.
“Gautam and Sagar Adani induced U.S. investors to purchase Adani Green bonds through an offering process that not only misrepresented that Adani Green had a robust anti-compliance program corruption., but also that the company’s senior management had not paid or promised to pay bribes, and that Cyril Cabanes had participated in the underlying corruption scheme while he was a director of a state-owned company “, said Sanjay Wadhwa, acting director of the company’s Compliance division. SECOND.
For its part, the Adani group assured that the accusations brought by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against the directors of Adani Green “are unfounded and have been denied”. “The accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty,” he stressed, adding that all possible legal remedies will be sought. Likewise, the company emphasized that it has always upheld and is firmly committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance, transparency and regulatory compliance in all jurisdictions in which it operates. “We assure our shareholders, partners and employees that we are a law-abiding organization that fully complies with all laws,” he added.
Currently, Adani’s fortune stands at $85.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. We will see what ultimately happens after the latest accusations from the United States. History repeats itself.
They assure that they do not affect the conglomerate
In response to recent accusations of $1 million in bribes made by the US Department of Justice, Adani Group clarified on Saturday that the accusations specifically refer to “one contract” of one of its companies, in order to relieve investors.
Jugeshinder Robbie Singh, chief financial officer of Adani Group, stressed that the allegations do not extend to other companies in the conglomerate and that the deal mentioned in the case, which constitutes about 10% of Adani Green’s overall business Energy, is the company involved.
Adani Group “has a portfolio of 11 public companies and none are subject to indictment (i.e. it is not accused in any legal proceedings in recent filings filed by Department of Justice lawyers in a New York City court),” he said.
