By Companies of Indian conglomerate Adani Group have now seen $105 billion wiped off their market capitalization, extending a slide after a critical report from a U.S. short-seller that the Indian company insists are “bogus.”
The most recent share-price slide came after it cancelled a $2.5 billion secondary share sale of Adani Enterprises.
Flagship firm Adani Enterprises
512599,
-26.50%
stock sank 20% on Thursday. It has tumbled over 50% since Friday, when it began to invite bids from its follow-on public offering, or FPO.
The mass share sell-off has meant Gautam Adani’s net worth has been decimated by at least one quarter. The Forbes real time billionaire’s list estimates Adani is now worth $65.6 billion, ranking sixteenth, just below Chinese businessman Zhong Shanshan.
The share sale garnered some support from well-known Indian family businesses but the group said in a statement to the stock exchange that it would be returning the proceeds from the sale.
“Given the unprecedented situation and the current market volatility the company aims to protect the interest of its investing community by returning the FPO proceeds and withdraws the completed transaction,” the group said.
“Our board strongly felt that it would not have been morally correct to proceed with the FPO,” Gautam Adani said in a video statement.
“The interest of the investors is paramount and hence to insulate them from any potential financial losses, the board has decided not to go ahead,” he added.
Adani has published a more than 400-page report which it says rebuts allegations of accounting fraud from Hindenburg Research. Hindenburg says it would welcome being sued in a U.S. court, where it would have the power of discovery.
