Some of Wall Street’s biggest names are exposed to the Adani Enterprises plunge
The shares of India’s Adani Enterprises have plummeted over the past week following the publication of a critical report by U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research. Some big international players have exposure. Companies across the Adani Group have seen a huge sell-off that took the total group’s losses past $110 billion by Friday close after the Hindenburg report accused the conglomerate of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.” The ports-to-energy conglomerate, led by one of the world’s richest men, Gautam Adani, has vehemently denied wrongdoing. Adani Enterprises has suffered the biggest loss among the wider group’s many listed companies, shedding more than 60% of its market cap — or more than $30 billion — between the report’s publication on Jan. 24 and the close of Thursday trade.
The Adani Group firmly denies the accusations, calling them “nothing but a lie” from the “Madoffs of Manhattan” in a 413-page riposte that failed to soothe skittish investor sentiment and rein in a rapid sell-off. Adani owns 64% of Adani Enterprises — the Adani SB Family holds 55.27%, while 8.73% is with Adani Tradeline Pvt Ltd, where Gautam and brother Rajesh Adani are controlling directors. The third-largest shareholder, at 4.02%, is India’s state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India. Morning sessions in both houses of India’s parliament were adjourned on Friday as opposition leaders called for an investigation into the allegations against Adani, a close associate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The list of top 20 shareholders of Adani Enterprises also includes two of the biggest names on Wall Street: Vanguard owns 0.75%