India’s Adani Group has published an angry rebuttal to allegations of wrongdoing by shorting research firm Hindenburg, which wiped more than $50 billion off its value last week, in an effort to calm investors in the midst of a $2.4 billion share sale.
In the document, which is 54 pages long plus some 350 appendices, the industrial conglomerate owns Billionaire Gautam AdanI said that the Hindenburg Report had “caused serious and unprecedented negative effects on our investors”.
It added that the allegations were “not just an unprovoked attack on any particular company, but a calculated attack on India, the independence, integrity and quality of Indian institutions, and the story of India’s growth and ambition.”
Last week, the New York-based Hindenburg published the results of a two-year investigation in which it alleged that promise me He engaged in “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud” for decades.
By the end of trading on Friday, the report had spent about 20 percent, or More than $50 billion worth of companies included in the Adani Group. Shares in Indian banks and insurance companies with business exposure also fell.
Adani Enterprises, one of the group companies, said over the weekend that its next public offering of shares would go ahead as planned, despite concerns it would struggle to attract investors.
The aim of the offering was to broaden the shareholder registry of the sprawling industrial conglomerate, many of which are currently owned by related entities and Mauritius-based funds.
Adani Enterprises share price closed at Rs 2,761.45 on Friday, well below the set sale range of Rs 3,112 to Rs 3,276.
The show launched on Friday, and the books are scheduled to close on Tuesday.
“There is no change in the schedule nor in the issue price,” al-Adani said on Saturday. “All of our stakeholders including bankers and investors have complete confidence in me [offering]. We are very confident of success [offering]. ”
The short-seller challenge to the group has caused confusion across India’s business community: the company has interests including oil and gas, ports, airports and mining.
It is one of the largest private infrastructure groups in India and prior to the sale, Gautam Adani was the third richest person in the world.
Adani’s rebuttal stated that “not one” of the 88 questions asked by Hindenburg “relies on independent or journalistic fact-finding. It is simply selective flashbacks of public disclosures or rhetorical insinuations that color rumor as fact.”
Many of the questions were dismissed as “unsubstantiated,” “unsubstantiated claims,” or “misleading claims,” while others received longer answers, including scanned documents, tables, and citations.
The group dismissed questions about the debt-driven growth model, noting that “the gearing ratios of Adani’s portfolio companies remain healthy and are in line with industry standards for the respective sectors.”
It had previously said it was considering legal action against the Hindenburg, whose previous targets included electric car company Nikola and social networking site Twitter.
Hindenburg said last week it “welcomes” legal action. “If Adani is serious, it should also file a case in the US, where we operate,” said the short seller. “We have a long list of documents that we require in the legal discovery process.”