Gautam Adani on FPO withdrawal: Impact on existing operations, future plans unlikely

Gautam Adani, Founder and Chairman of Adani group, on Thursday said Adani Enterprises' decision to withdraw its Rs 20,000 crore follow-on public offer (FPO) might have surprised many, but the company's board felt that it was not morally correct to proceed with the issue, given the volatility in the market on the Budget day.

In a YouTube video, Adani, 60, said the decision would not have any impact on Adani group's existing operations and future plans. He said his group companies will continue to focus on timely executions and delivery of projects.  

"The fundamentals of our company are very strong. Our balance sheet is healthy and assets robust," he said adding that his company has an impeccable record of fulfilling its debt obligations. Adani said his group will continue to focus on a long-term value creation and growth, managed by internal accruals.

"Once the market stabilises, we will review our capital market strategy," he said adding that the group has strong focus on ESG and his businesses will continue to create value in responsible way.

"The strong validation of governance principles come from several international partnerships we have built with different entities," he said while thanking investment bankers, institutional investors and shareholders, within and outside India, for giving support to the FPO. Adani said he is confident that the group will get investor support from future as well.

Adani said in his four-decade journey as an entrepreneur, he has been blessed to receive overwhelming support from all stakeholders and particularly from the investor community. He said that whatever wealth he has in life is due to the faith trust reposed by investors and that he owed all his success to them.

"For me, interest of investor is paramount and rest everything is after that," he said adding that he made the decision to insulate investors from any potential losses. Adani group stocks have seen steep fall of late, which has led Adani's fortunes falling to $74.7 billion as per Forbes. This is against a high of $150 billion sometime in September last year, as per Bloomberg Billionaire index.

The recent selling in Adani group stocks came after Hindenburg Reserach, a short selling, made many allegations on Adani group including accounting frauds, stock manipulations and money laundering, while revealing that it has gone short on Adani group stocks. While Adani denied all the allegations, the group stocks continued to bleed. Just on the Budget day, Adani's wealth was down by $15.74 billion, as per Forbes data.  

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