On February 1, Adani Group called off the fully subscribed FPO and said it would have not been morally correct to go ahead with the FPO after the share prices declined. Soon after, Forbes published a report claiming there was evidence that Adani brought shares worth $2.5 billion to the FPO to make it look “successful” and 100% subscribed. In an article titled, “There’s Evidence That The Adani Group Likely Bought Into Its Own $2.5 Billion Share Sale,” Forbes insinuated wrongdoings by Adani group while providing no such evidence to support the claim.
There’s Evidence That The Adani Group Likely Bought Into Its Own $2.5 Billion Share Sale https://t.co/m1FBHEldFf pic.twitter.com/QRSF75Vyrk
— Forbes (@Forbes) February 1, 2023
The usual suspects were quick to share this article gleefully. Author Saba Naqvi said, “Apparently this is what finally led to them calling off FPO. What I ponder about in the tweet below.”
The News Minute journalist Dhanya Rajendran shared the report without any additional comments.
Propagandist journalist Nikhil Wagle also shared it on his Twitter handle.
Hinduphobic Sweden based ‘professor’ Ashok Swain said, “Rules are missing in the rule books of Modi and his crony, Adani!”
Journalist Priyanka Pulla said, “So wait. *After* the first round of Hindenburg accusations of insider trading came out, Adani did it all over again in the FPO?”
Dr Prakash Kashwan wrote, “And, this is how it went — the corrupt billionaire was forced to cancel a $2.5 billion share sale after reports of more corruption surfaced. #Shame”
However, if they would have read the article they would have realised Forbes provides no such evidence for its claim.
‘Speculations’ were presented as ‘evidence’
The report authored by John Hyatt for Forbes titled “There’s Evidence That The Adani Group Likely Bought Into Its Own $2.5 Billion Share Sale”, was based on speculations which were being passed off as evidence. The so-called evidence was based on the speculations made by some ‘experts’ and the fact that the two companies that were mentioned in the Hindenburg report were mentioned in the document listing underwriters for the sale.
In its report, Forbes said Elara Capital (India) Private Limited, a subsidiary of London-based investment firm Elara Capital, and Monarch Networth Capital, an Indian brokerage firm, were two of the underwriters in the list of ten companies provided disclosed by Adani.
In its report, Hindenburg claimed that Elara Capital’s India Opportunities Fund serves as a “stock parking entity” for Adani companies. Further, it claimed that Monarch Networth Capital has been partially owned by Adani Properties Private Limited. Also, it claimed Albula, an offshore fund identified as a proxy of Adani held a 10% ownership in Monarch.
Based on this information provided by Hinderburg in the report, Forbes speculated that the inclusion of these companies “could” mean Adani bought into its shares. The report read, “The involvement of Elara Capital and Monarch Networth Capital, however, raises questions about whether any of Adani’s funds were deployed to help meet the $2.5 billion target.”
Forbes claimed IHC (Abu Dhabi) offered a last-minute injection of $400 million after a call from Gautam Adani himself. Similar claims were made about Sajjan Jindal and Sunil Mittal, two well-established business tycoons in India. No such evidence of ‘last minute calls’ by Adani were given.
Forbes also quoted two experts in the report to give it weightage. A former investment banker with Citigroup and director of Australia-based Climate Energy Finance Tim Buckley was quoted saying, “It would be my speculation that there were insiders.” Forbes also quoted US hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman saying, “I would not find it surprising if the @AdaniOnline offering was rigged with affiliated buyers.”
The entire report was based on speculations made by the “experts” and information provided by Hindenburg and not any ‘evidence’ as the title suggested.
