MUMBAI
\nThe business empire of Gautam Adani has shed tens of billions of dollars in value on the back of a report alleging accounting fraud that the Indian tycoon\u2019s firm has strenuously rejected.
\nAdani, 60, is a publicity-shy school dropout of humble origins who rose to become the world\u2019s third-richest man with a fortune — until last week — of around $130 billion.
\nMoving to Mumbai in his teens to work sorting diamonds, he formed his own import-export business. His big break came in 1995 when he acquired a shipping port just as India\u2019s economy was opening up.
\nToday Adani Group does everything from power generation and coal mining to cement, media and food. Its seven listed units had market value in January of around $220 billion.
\nCritics say Adani\u2019s closeness to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a fellow native of Gujarat state, has brought his group an unfair advantage in winning business.
\nOn the back of eye-watering rises in the share prices of his firms, Adani became Asia\u2019s richest man. Globally only Elon Musk and Bernard Arnault and family were wealthier, according to Forbes.
\nOn January 24, Hindenburg Research — an activist US investment group that bets on stocks falling — accused Adani Group of committing \u201ca brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades\u201d.
\nHindenburg\u2019s two-year investigation also found that elder brother Vinod Adani, \u201cthrough several close associates, manages a vast labyrinth of offshore shell entities\u201d.
\n\u201cWe believe the Adani Group has been able to operate a large, flagrant fraud in broad daylight in large part because investors, journalists, citizens and even politicians have been afraid to speak out for fear of reprisal,\u201d it said.
\nThe report has sparked a huge sell-off in shares in Adani\u2019s firms, wiping out more than $68 billion in market value, according to Bloomberg News. Trading in some stocks was temporarily halted.
\nAdani\u2019s personal wealth has dived by around $40 billion and he has tumbled down the real-time Forbes rich list to number eight.
\nThe timing was also terrible, coming just as Adani Group is seeking to raise $2.5 billion to strengthen its finances with a sale of shares that is due to expire on Tuesday.
\nOn January 25, Adani\u2019s finance chief called the Hindenburg report a \u201cmalicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations that have been tested and rejected by India\u2019s highest courts\u201d.
\nOn Sunday the firm issued a 413-page statement that it said rebutted all of Hindenburg\u2019s claims, calling the group the \u201cMadoffs of Manhattan\u201d — a reference to crooked financier Bernie Madoff.
\n\u201cThis is not merely an unwarranted attack on any specific company but a calculated attack on India, the independence, integrity and quality of Indian institutions, and the growth story and ambition of India,\u201d it said.
\nSome of Adani\u2019s firms inched back upwards on Monday, but on the whole investors continued to dump Adani stock, wiping off billions more in market value.
\nHindenburg said that only about 30 pages of the Adani statement focused on issues related to its report.
\n\u201cThe remainder of the response consisted of 330 pages of court records, along with 53 pages of high-level financials, general information, and details on irrelevant corporate initiatives, such as how it encourages female entrepreneurship and the production of safe vegetables,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MUMBAI The business empire of Gautam Adani has shed tens of billions of dollars in value on the back of a report alleging accounting fraud that the Indian tycoon\u2019s firm has strenuously rejected. Adani, 60, is a publicity-shy school dropout of humble origins who rose to become the world\u2019s third-richest man with a fortune — […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-310955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n