Nfter the attacks by the American short seller Hindenburg Research, the Indian industrialist Gautam Adani feels compelled to abandon the sale of shares in the parent company Adani Enterprise. Since the Americans published a comprehensive report on crimes within the Adani group, the third-richest man in the world has lost more than $85 billion just over a week ago.
Adani Enterprise’s stock has fallen 28 percent. Adani said on Wednesday that continuing the share sale was “morally unacceptable”. Small investors had previously only bought 12 percent of the share that was available to them.
The sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority acted as an anchor investor. Although ADAI only committed $20 million in the sale of another $2.5 billion worth of shares, the sovereign wealth fund earned its reputation. The conglomerate International Holding from Abu Dhabi secured 16 percent of the capital. It has a multi-billion dollar investment in the Adani Group.
The meltdown is also weighing on Indian institutional investors such as Life Insurance Corporation, Bank ICICI and Axis Bank. They would all have got into trouble if the allegations by Hindenburg Research were to be true: their risk assessment would obviously have failed in advance and they would have been taken in by a fraudulent company.
Western banks and insurance companies in particular have already become wary of Adani. Authorities in India and Australia are investigating the Americans’ claims.
