Adani Ports Tanks 7%, Adani Enterprises Slides 4%: Why the Slump?

By Malvika Gurung

Investing.com -- Shares of the ports-to-power conglomerate major Adani Group companies tanked up to 7.3% on Wednesday’s intraday trade, with Adani Ports & SEZ plunging 6.8% to Rs 709.65 apiece while writing.

Adani Group’s flagship company, Adani Enterprises’ stock tumbled 3.7% to Rs 3,315 apiece in the session today, while all seven of the conglomerates listed companies sank, along with the stocks of its recently acquired cement makers ACC (NS: ACC ) and Ambuja Cements (NS: ABUJ ).

The reason behind the share dip is a report published by the US investment research firm Hindenburg Research LLC, which has alleged that India’s second-largest conglomerate, Adani Group has engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.

Hindenburg is a prominent research firm, specializing in activist short-selling. It holds short positions in Adani Group companies through US-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivative instruments, cited Reuters, pulling stocks of the conglomerate lower on Wednesday.

It has alleged the Rs 17.8 trillion-worth Adani Group of a wide range of allegations concerning corporate malpractice and detailed findings of many Adani-family-controlled offshore shell entities involved in money laundering, theft of taxpayer funds and corruption.

The report states that even though Adani Group’s 7 listed firms have 1-year returns of up to 167%, their combined downside stands at 85%, purely on a fundamental basis owing to sky-high valuations.

Adani Ports is the top loser on Nifty50 pack, followed by Adani Enterprises (NS: ADEL ) on Wednesday’s trade.