Amonth after US short-seller Hindenburg Research came out with its scathing report on Gautam Adani-led conglomerate, the Adani Group has lost more than Rs 12 lakh crore due to heavy sell-off of stocks in the stock market. The Hindenburg report, which went public on January 24, accused the Adani group of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud for decades”.
The report, ‘Adani Group: How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History’, said that its 7 key listed companies have an 85 per cent downside purely on a fundamental basis owing to sky-high valuation.
Here are the top 10 developments a month after the Hindenburg report was released.
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1. The group’s market capitalisation (m-cap) fell by more than 60 per cent in a month. By end of trading hours last week, the m-cap of Adani stocks was around Rs 7,15,986.97 crore on BSE, which is almost Rs 12 lakh crore less than Rs 19.2 lakh crore market value on January 24.
2. Adani Green Energy, Adani Total Gas and Adani Transmission have plunged over 70 per cent while the flagship Adani Enterprises shares have lost over 60 per cent. On the other hand, Adani Power crashed by 46 per cent and Adani Ports, Adani Wilmar, ACC and Ambuja Cements have fallen over 25 per cent.
3. Amid the heavy slump in the value of the stocks of Adani companies, state-run insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation of India’s investments in the listed companies have turned negative. The value of its investment in the listed Adani Group stocks was Rs 56,142 crore on January 27. By end of February 23, the value plunged to nearly Rs 27,000 crore.
4. In a regulatory filing on January 30, the government-owned insurance major said that the market value of its holding in the Adani Group companies stood at Rs 56,142 crore on January 27 against the total purchase value of equity of Rs 30,127 crore.
5. The combined market value of LIC’s investments in seven Adani stocks namely Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission, Ambuja Cements and ACC plunged to Rs 33,242 crore as on February 23 from Rs 82,970 crore as on December 31, 2022.
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6. LIC held 9.14 per cent in Adani Ports, 5.96 per cent in Adani Total Gas, 4.23 per cent in Adani Enterprises, 3.65 per cent in Adani Transmission, and 1.28 per cent in Adani Green Energy, in the quarter-ending December 2022.
7. Earlier this month, LIC chairman M. R. Kumar told Business Today that the company officials will meet Adani Group officials and look into the matter of future investments.
8. Gautam Adani and his companies have been under intense scrutiny since the Hindenburg report was released.
9. Adani, who was the world’s third richest person and Asia’s richest person not so long ago, slipped to the 26th and 29th positions on the Forbes and Bloomberg world billionaires lists, respectively, last week due to the massive stock selloff.
10. Adani was worth $150 billion in September 2022. He started the year with a $121 billion net worth. But after the Hindenburg Research report a month ago, his personal wealth eroded by over $107 billion.
