UK’s financial regulator watching Adani Group-Elara links: Report

Britain’s financial regulatory body is monitoring “potential links” between the investment firm Elara Capital and India’s Adani Group, a media report has said.

Adani’s flagship firm Adani Enterprises last week abandoned its follow-on public offer (FPO) amid a crash in the share prices of the group companies triggered by American short-seller Hindenburg Research’s report which accused the Indian conglomerate of “accounting fraud” and “market manipulation”.

Elara was a book-runner for the FPO which had been fully subscribed before it was eventually scrapped.

Hindenburg also alleged Elara’s Mauritius-based funds were part of a scheme to manipulate the share prices of Adani companies.

Elara, which "almost exclusively holds Adani Group stock" in some of its funds has further ties to Adani, the short-seller claimed in its January 24 report.

Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority is “looking into possible UK links around Elara”, the Financial News reported citing people familiar with the matter.

While Adani Group vehemently denied the allegations levelled against it by Hindenburg, Elara has not responded to the short-seller's claims.

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson’s younger brother Lord Jo Johnson resigned from Elara’s board last week citing his lack of "domain expertise" in the businesses of the London-headquartered firm.

He, however, said in a statement that he “consistently received assurances from Elara Capital that it is compliant with its legal obligations and in good standing with regulatory bodies.”

Founded by Raj Bhatt in 2002 primarily as a capital markets business to raise funds for Indian corporates, the firm has diversified into corporate advisory, asset management, private equity, broking and mergers & acquisitions.

Elara also has offices in New York, Singapore, Mumbai and Ahmedabad in addition to London.

“Starting with fundraising, Elara soon evolved into a full-service investment bank,” the firm says on its website.

“Elara has so far completed transactions worth billions of dollars and has expanded the scope of its services to include,” it says.