Adani offshore investor Opal Investment linked with Adani Family: Report

Opal Investment Pvt. Ltd. is an offshore company that is a major shareholder in Adani Power, the energy firm at the heart of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's business empire, reported Wall Street Journal.

In its most recent quarterly report, Adani Power portrayed Opal as an independent stakeholder with no ties to the ports-to-power complex other than its 4.69% ownership in Adani Power.

According to corporate filings obtained by The Wall Street Journal, Opal was formed on the island country of Mauritius by Trustlink International Ltd., a financial-services firm with ties to the Adani family.

As per the Mauritius filings, one of Trustlink's directors, Louis Ricardo Caillou, is on the board of Opal.  Caillou is also named as a board member of another Mauritius-based firm, Krunal Trade & Investment Pvt. Ltd., with Adani's older brother, Vinod Adani, and Subir Mittra, the CEO of the Adani family office.

According to the documents, Trustlink International, another Mauritius-based company, serves as both companies' secretaries.

The central issue raised by claims made by American short-seller Hindenburg Research is whether Adani executives or family members have any control over decisions made by businesses like Opal.

Last week, Hindenburg published a 104-page study accusing the Adani Group of many frauds, including the establishment of phoney firms to artificially raise stock prices and violate India's shareholding laws.

The ports-to-power conglomerate has refuted the allegations, claiming that the stock manipulation claim made by short-sellers has "no basis" and is the result of a misunderstanding of Indian legislation.

Uday Kotak, an industrialist and banker, stated earlier today that he does not believe current developments pose a systemic risk to the Indian financial system. The large Indian corporations, he claimed, are more dependent on international sources for debt and equity financing.

After being fully subscribed on January 31, Adani Enterprises Ltd. opted to withdraw its FPO worth Rs 20,000 crore on Wednesday.

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