The market capitalisation of 10 listed Adani Group companies fell below $100 billion on Tuesday. The conglomerate led by billionaire Gautam Adani has lost more than $136 billion in the market cap since Hindenburg Research published the report on January 24. The report alleged that the Adani Group has been involved in malpractices such as illegal use of off-shore shell companies and manipulating stock prices.
In a bid to assuage investors’ concerns about the group's ability to obtain funding, the Adani Group has paid some of their debt in advance, scaled down their expansion plans and engaged the services of legal and communication teams. Although these efforts made by the group have resulted in the stabilisation of the conglomerate's dollar bonds, the ongoing selling spree in the Adani group stocks shows that additional measures for regaining the trust of investors are still required.
Capital expenditure and debt still remains the major concerns for the Adani Group and these will impact the companies’ valuations, Sameer Kalra, founder, Target Investing told Bloomberg.
As Adani Group works to undo the harm brought on by Hindenburg's report, its attention has turned to financial management, debt collection and reclaiming pledged shares.
In a statement issued last week, Adani Group denied claims that Grant Thornton, an accounting firm, had been hired to conduct their independent audits. Earlier, according to various media sources, it was said that the Adani Group allegedly hired Grant Thornton in order to "discredit claims" made by the damning Hindenburg report.
In addition to this, some of the Adani companies, including Adani Green Energy Ltd. and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd., have had their credit outlooks revised by rating agencies.
