Gautam Adani, the founder and chairman of the Adani Group, has re-entered the top 20 Bloomberg list of the world’s billionaires. He now holds the 18th position in the Bloomberg Billionaires’ Index and has a net worth of $64.2 billion. Adani’s net worth increased by $4.38 billion in a day due to an increase in Adani Group stock prices.
The stocks of the Adani Group shot up on Tuesday, May 23, after its most recent investor, GQG Partners, increased its holdings in the group by almost 10%. In March of this year, they acquired a share in Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Adani Green Energy, and Adani Transmission for a total of Rs 15,446.35 crore. Tuesday’s intraday transaction witnessed a 65 percent increase in this investment’s value to Rs 25,515.50.
Rajiv Jain, the owner of GQG Partners, praised Adani Group shares as “the best infrastructure assets available in India” in a Bloomberg interview.
After Hindenburg Research’s report on the Adani group and its founder, Gautam Adani’s net worth significantly dropped, and he dropped off the top 20 list on February 3. Gautam Adani, who had a net worth of $154 billion in September 2022 and was once the second-richest person in the world, has lost $56.4 billion since the year’s beginning.
Following the publication of the Hindenburg report, the group withdrew its follow-on public offer (FPO) for Rs 20,000 crore and took action to ease concerns about debt-related issues.
After the Justice AM Sapre committee report suggested that it was not possible to conclude that there had been a regulatory failure when it comes to Adani stocks, the market capitalization of Adani Group surpassed the Rs 10 lakh crore mark earlier this week.
Their market capitalization increased from Rs 9,34,485 crore on Friday’s close to Rs 10,03,861 crore in Monday’s action. This is still 48% below their M-cap of Rs. 19.20 lakh crore on January 24, the day the Hindenburg report was released.
Increase in Adani share price
Rajiv Jain’s GQG Partners increased their holdings in Adani Enterprises by 10% on Tuesday and declared their intention to continue contributing to future fundraising attempts for the ports-to-power business. The holding company’s stock price increased 19% on the same day.
The bullish trend spread to other Adani group firms, resulting in significant price increases for their stocks. Notably, after the publication of the report, Adani Ports became the first company in the group to recover all of its losses.
Hindenburg Research report
Hindenburg Research, a short seller located in the US, charged Adani Group with engaging in stock manipulation and accounting fraud at its companies. A report titled “Adani Group: How The World’s Third Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History” was released by Hindenburg Research on January 24.
It alleged that Gautam Adani and his brothers had engaged in stock manipulation, controlled several offshore shell firms, and taken a short position in the Adani Group firms using derivatives traded outside of India and US-listed bonds.
The research claimed that due to exorbitant valuations, its seven most important listed firms had an 85% downside purely on a fundamental premise.
“Key listed Adani companies have also taken on substantial debt, including pledging shares of their inflated stock for loans, putting the entire group on precarious financial footing. 5 of 7 key listed companies have reported ‘current ratios’ below 1, indicating near-term liquidity pressure,” the research charged.
As per the Hidenberg study, 8 of the 22 crucial positions are filled by members of Gautam Adani’s family. The conglomerate has, however, refuted every charge.
