A week after pumping over Rs 15,000 crore into Adani Group, GQG Partners founder Rajiv Jain on Wednesday said his investment firm will probably increase its investment in the ports-to-power conglomerate. "Chances are we'll probably buy more because we typically initiate a position and then depending on how things go and how the earnings come through we tend to get it to full size because we're not at full size at this point," Jain said on a call with journalists in Sydney as per Reuters.
Also read: GQG's Rajiv Jain to explain Rs 15,446-cr investment in Adani Group
Earlier this month, GQG Partners, a US-based boutique investment firm, bought shares of four Adani group companies - Adani Ports, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission, and Adani Enterprises - worth Rs 15,446 crore. This was the biggest investment into Adani, whose stocks saw massive wealth erosion following a critical report by US short-seller Hindenburg Research.
However, just a day after its investment in Adani, shares of Australia-listed GQG Partners fell 4 per cent. Rajiv Jain is currently in Australia to explain the firm's investment in the conglomerate, which has been accused by the short-seller of stock manipulation and fraud through offshore shell firms.
Rajiv Jain has defended GQG's investment in the troubled group and said that its chairman Gautam Adani is widely regarded as among the best entrepreneurs of his generation. "We believe that the long-term growth prospects for these companies are substantial," he had said in a statement announcing the investment. He recently said that his firm had carried out its own 'deep dive' into Adani and disagreed with Hindenburg's claims.
Based in Florida, Jain flew to Australia this week for talks with investors, which include some of Australia's largest pension funds, Reuters said. Last week, pension fund investor Cbus Super, with A$71 billion ($46.82 billion) under management, told Reuters they had sent questions to GQG about its stock deal with Adani.
When asked how the clients have responded to the Adani deal, Jain said: "The response actually has been, frankly, more positive than I would have anticipated because they feel that's how we differentiate ourselves." "We do our deep dive, and we don't follow the herd."
Jain also said that GQG got an incredible opportunity to initiate positions "and over time, the size will increase and most likely will increase depending on the price and how they deliver."
Adani has major coal assets in Australia, which could affect the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) targets of superannuation and other Australian investors.
Jain said he agrees on the long-term energy transition but fossil fuel cannot be shut off now. "It's a more convenient issue rather than a substantive issue. A lot of people simply do box-checking exercise. We feel that you need to make the transition, but the transition has to be based on some realistic aspects," he said.
(With inputs from Reuters)