Adani Group has roped in renowned US law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (WLRK) to represent the conglomerate in its legal battle against short-seller Hindenburg Research, according to a Financial Times report. Wachtell is known as a fierce Wall Street activism defence law firm and is also one of the most expensive law firms in the US.
The Gautam Adani-led group’s decision to hire such an expensive firm is reflective of the rising international pressure on Adani Group after Hindenburg accused it of fraud and market manipulation. Companies affiliated to Adani Group continue to make heavy losses in the Indian equity market as a result of the Hindenburg report.
Its effects have spilled into global financial markets as well with several international lenders refusing to accept Adani securities as collateral for giving margin loans. Additionally, in recent developments, MSCI cut the weightages of four Adani group companies in its emerging markets index.
The report added that Adani Group reached out to Wachtell via Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, the group’s legal partner firm in India. Notably, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas is led by Cyril Shroff, who is the father-in-law of Karan Adani, son of Gautam Adani. Paridhi, wife of Karan Adani also works at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.
Four people with direct knowledge of the development told FT that Adani Group has tapped senior lawyers at New York’s Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to advise it on how to stem the crisis it is currently facing.
Last year, WLRK had represented Elon Musk in the billionaire’s legal battle for the $44 billion takeover of the micro-blogging platform Twitter.
