Adani family makes $1-bn stake sale to GQG, other investors

New Delhi: US-based boutique investment firm GQG Partners and other investors have bought close to $1 billion of additional stakes in Adani group companies as billionaire Gautam Adani continues to rebuild market confidence since hit by a damning report of a US short seller.

The investors bought 18 million, or 1.6 per cent, from the Adani family in the group’s flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd in a single block trade. In the renewable energy firm Adani Green Energy, a total of 35.2 million shares, or 2.2 per cent, changed hands, sources aware of the matter said. Stock market data showed large block trades in both companies in early Wednesday trading.

GQG Partners has been ramping up its investment in the conglomerate ever since Hindenburg Research in a bombshell report alleged accounting fraud and stock price manipulation at the Group, triggering a stock market rout that had erased about $150 billion in its market value at its lowest point.

Adani Group has denied all allegations by Hindenburg and is plotting a comeback strategy that includes recasting its ambitions, scrapping acquisitions, pre-paying debt to address concerns about its cash flows and borrowings.