India’s regulator clears Adani of key Hindenburg allegations

INDIA's market regulator issued two orders on Thursday (18) clearing several of billionaire Gautam Adani's companies of some of the allegations of funding impropriety made by US short-seller Hindenburg Research.

The Adani Group, a sprawling ports-to-power conglomerate, had billions of dollars wiped from its market value in 2023 after a report by Hindenburg accused it of "brazen" corporate fraud.

The forensic financial research firm accused it of making numerous undisclosed related-party transactions and of earnings manipulation "to maintain the appearance of financial health and solvency" of its listed companies.

The family-run conglomerate's founder Gautam Adani denied the allegations, calling the Hindenburg report at the time a "deliberate attempt" to damage its image for the benefit of short-sellers.

The Hindenburg claims have since been investigated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which published two orders on Thursday about Adani Group companies that included its listed ports and power units.

SEBI said it found the conglomerate did not use related-party transactions to route funding into group companies and so did not violate existing market disclosure rules.

"Having considered the matter holistically, I find that the allegations... are not established," Kamlesh C Varshney, SEBI member wrote in both orders.

Gautam Adani, the world's 20th richest person according to a Bloomberg index of billionaires, welcomed the regulator's findings in a post on social media platform X.

"After an exhaustive investigation, SEBI has reaffirmed what we have always maintained, that the Hindenburg claims were baseless. Transparency and integrity have always defined the Adani Group," he said.

"We deeply feel the pain of the investors who lost money because of this fraudulent and motivated report. Those who spread false narratives owe the nation an apology."

Hindenburg's founder Nate Anderson said in January the investment group had completed its projects and would be disbanded.

(AFP)