The lengthy response comes ahead of the final few days of a $2.5 billion share sale by Adani Enterprises Ltd., which received overall subscriptions of 1 per cent on Friday.
Indian billionaire GautamAdani‘s group published a 413-page rebuttal after allegations of fraud by short sellerHindenburgResearch erased $51 billion of his flagship firm’s market value.
Some 65 of the 88 questions have been addressed in Adani’s public disclosures and the conduct of the American short seller “is nothing short of a calculated securities fraud under applicable law,” Adani Group said in a statement Sunday. It reiterated it will “exercise our rights to pursue remedies to safeguard our stakeholders before all appropriate authorities.”
The lengthy response comes ahead of the final few days of a $2.5 billion share sale by Adani Enterprises Ltd., which received overall subscriptions of 1 per cent on Friday. While investors in Indian public offerings typically wait until the last day of the sale to place bids, there were concerns that Hindenburg’s attack on the country’s richest man would sour sentiment.
“This 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,” Adani said in its response.
US-based Hindenburg, on Jan. 24 — the eve of the Adani’s share sale — published a 100-page report alleging that its two-year investigation found the Adani Group had “engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme.” It also called out the conglomerate’s “substantial debt.” The firm, which said it has taken a short position in Adani’s companies through US-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivatives, declined to share details of the trade when reached by Bloomberg News.
