Hidenburg Counters Adani’s ‘Bloated’ Rebuttal

Mumbai/New York: The Adani Group published a 413-page rebuttal to allegations made by short-seller Hindenburg Research on Sunday, calling the research a fake narrative created with malicious purpose and a lack of grasp of Indian legislation.

Hours after Adani Group’s response, a US-based short seller said that the statement “ignores key allegations”.

The market value of Adani’s flagship company was reduced by $51 billion because of allegations of fraud by Hindenburg. According to the firm’s research, the Adani group has ties to offshore tax havens and its significant debt exposure raised questions. The analysis asserted that the stock price of the Adani Group was overstated and posed serious downside risks.

“Fraud cannot be obfuscated by nationalism or a bloated response that ignores every key allegation we raised,” Hindenburg said, standing by its report last week that alleged that the Adani Group “engaged in brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme” for decades.

“Adani’s response consists of irrelevant corporate initiatives, such as how it encourages female entrepreneurship and the production of safe vegetables,” said Hindenburg.

“We disagree. To be clear, we believe India is a vibrant democracy and an emerging superpower with an exciting future,” said Hindenburg.

Following the publication of the report, the values of seven listed firms that are part of the Adani group sharply decreased.

Adani Enterprises’ secondary share sale was made available to institutional and retail investors on Friday, but just 1% of the shares were purchased because the company’s stock dropped 11% below the minimum offer price. According to The Adani Group, the sale proceeded as scheduled at the predetermined issue price.