Less than 2100 tons of money in January! It has a production capacity of 67.5 million tons! Cement Giant Accused of Stock Manipulation and Financial Fraud

Asia's richest man, has been in trouble in recent days. On January 25,

local time, Hindenburg Research, a well-known short-selling institution on Wall Street, released a long report of nearly 100 pages, pointing directly at Gautam Adani, the richest man in Asia. According to the Hindenburg study, a two-year investigation found "a brazen scheme of stock manipulation and financial fraud by the INR 17.8 trillion ( $218 billion) Adani Group." As soon as the

news came out, Adani Group's share price shook. Shares of seven listed companies controlled by Adani Group fell by an average of 4.6% in the afternoon trading on the Mumbai Stock Market in India, with a total market value of 762 billion rupees (about 63.4 billion yuan). Gautam Adani ranked seventh with a total net worth of $92.7 billion (628.9 billion yuan) as of January 29, 2023,

according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index. Since the beginning of 2023, Gautam Adani's net worth has shrunk by $27.9 billion (about 189.3 billion yuan, equivalent to 2176.95 tons of 100 yuan bills based on 1.15 tons of 100 million yuan), a decline of more than 20%.

Data source: Bloomberg Billionaires Index

In response, Jugeshinder Singh, chief financial officer of Adani Group, said: The Hindenburg study described the report as "a malicious combination of selective misinformation and old, baseless and discredited allegations". Meanwhile, Adani Group said it was considering legal action against US short seller Hindenburg Research.

Last Wednesday, Hindenburg Monthly Research issued a short-selling report accusing Adani Group of unscrupulous stock manipulation and accounting fraud over the past few decades, with huge debts and precarious financial situation, and said that from a fundamental point of view, the share prices of Adani Group's seven major listed companies "have 85% room to fall".

Adani said last Thursday that it was considering legal action against Hindenburg, which responded the same day that it welcomed such a move.

Adani's response said its group companies "have been deleveraging" over the past decade.

The Adani Group has defended its pledge of the shares of its promoters, known as key shareholders. Financing with shares as collateral is a global practice, with large institutions and banks issuing loans only after thorough credit analysis, the group said.

The group added that India has a robust disclosure regime and that the proportion of its portfolio companies' sponsored pledged positions in some listed stocks has fallen from more than 50% in March 2020 to less than 20% in December 2022.

The Hindenburg report, and its aftermath, is seen as one of the biggest challenges to date for Adani, Asia's richest man. His business interests include ports, airports, mining, power, media and cement.

Gautam Adani is a legend. At the age of 18, Gautam Adani voluntarily dropped out of school to work as a diamond sorter and turned to the diamond trade after seeing the huge profits in the industry. In just one year, Gautam Adani, under the age of 20, earned his first million.

In 1988, Gautam Adani founded Adani Exports Limited (Adani Exports Ltd), which gradually developed into the Adani Group. After several years of expansion, Adani Group's diversified layout has gradually become clear, expanding from an empire centered on ports and coal mining to airports, cement and green energy.

In 2022, Adani acquired two iconic cement brands, ambuja cement and ACC, from Swiss cement company HoLcim for $6.5 billion. In one fell swoop, Adani became the second largest cement manufacturer in the country (after Ultra Tech), with an annual production capacity of 67.5 million tonnes. Up to now, Adani Group's business spans mining, energy, logistics and other industries, consisting of seven listed companies.