Latest Hindenburg allegations ‘malicious’ and no more than red herrings: Adani Group

Malicious Attempt

• Hindenburg suspects Sebi’s unwillingness to act against Adani Group
• Maybe because of its head MadhabiPuri Buch had stakes in offshore funds linked to Adani Group
• It’s further alleged that Buch and her husband had undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius
• The same entities allegedly used by Vinod Adani, elder brother of Gautam Adani
• This is to round-trip funds, inflate stock prices
• Gautam Adani was the world’s third-richest man before Hindenburg, now ranked 12thrichest

Ahmedabad: The Adani Group on Sunday vehemently rejected the latest allegations by Hindenburg Research as malicious, mischievous and manipulative selections of publicly available information to arrive at pre-determined conclusions for personal profiteering with wanton disregard for facts and the law.

In a stock exchange filing, the Group completely rejected these allegations, which are a recycling of discredited claims that have been thoroughly investigated, proven to be baseless and already dismissed by the Honourable Supreme Court in January 2024.

“For a discredited short-seller under the scanner for several violations of Indian securities laws, Hindenburg’s allegations are no more than red herrings thrown by a desperate entity with total contempt for Indian laws,” said the Adani Group.

A spokesperson from the Adani Group reiterated that the company’s overseas holding structure is fully transparent, with all relevant details disclosed regularly in numerous public documents.

“Furthermore, Anil Ahuja was a nominee director of 3i investment fund in Adani Power (2007-2008) and, later, a director of Adani Enterprises until 2017,” said the spokesperson.

The Adani Group said it has “absolutely no commercial relationship with the individuals or matters mentioned in this calculated deliberate effort to malign our standing”.

The spokesperson further said that the Group remains “steadfastly committed to transparency and compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements”.

Earlier in the day, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Chairperson MadhabiPuri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch strongly denied the allegation levelled by Hindenburg Research against them, calling it a “character assassination attempt” because an Enforcement action and show cause notice was issued to the Nate Anderson-led company last month.

In a statement, they said, “It is unfortunate that Hindenburg Research against whom SEBI has taken an Enforcement action and issued a show cause notice has chosen to attempt character assassination in response to the same”.

The markets regulator last month said that Hindenburg and Anderson violated regulations under ‘Sebi’s Prevention of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices' regulations, and Sebi’s Code of Conduct for Research Analyst' regulations.

According to the joint statement issued by the couple, “In the context of allegations made in the Hindenburg Report dated August 10, 2024, against us, we would like to state that we strongly deny the baseless allegations and insinuations made in the report”.

“Further, in the interest of complete transparency, we would be issuing a detailed statement in due course,” they added.

Short-sellers like Hindenburg Research could find themselves in hot water, as even the US market regulator, the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), has been tightening its grip.