'Targeted misinformation': Gautam Adani says Hindenburg earned profit from drive-down of Adani Group stock prices

Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group, said that Hindenburg Research that released a damaging report on the conglomerate, aimed at damaging the group’s reputation and generating profits through a drive-down of Adani stocks. Adani said in the annual report of Adani Enterprises that the conglomerate is confident of its governance and disclosure standards.

“On the eve of our Republic Day, a US-based shortseller 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 The report was a combination of targeted misinformation and outdated, discredited allegations aimed at damaging our reputation and generating profits through a deliberate drive-down of our stock prices,” said Adani in his message to shareholders.

He said that they decided to withdraw the FPO and return the money to the investors to protect their interests.

“The short-selling incident resulted in several adverse consequences that we 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,” said Adani.

Watch: Gautam Adani earns Rs 2.38 crore salary in FY23 as Adani Enterprises chairman; see how Adani Group went from commodity trading to ports-to-renewable energy conglomerate

The group’s chairman added that the expert panel constituted by the Supreme Court, comprising “individuals known for their independence and integrity” did not find any regulatory failure in the conglomerate. Adani said that the committee’s report “cited that there were credible charges of concerted destabilization of the Indian markets”.

Adani said that while the SEBI is yet to submit its report, they remain confident of their governance and disclosure standards.

The Hindenburg Research report, released in January, accused the conglomerate of stock manipulation, fraudulent transactions and other financial misdeeds.

Adani spoke about the Indian economy. “It is well understood that for any economy to lay the foundation of growth, a stable government is critical, and we have seen this impact with the implementation of several structural reforms that are critical for strong, sustainable, and balanced growth. This stability coupled with India’s young demographics and continued expansion of internal demand is a potent combination,” he said.

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