Adani Group firms’ shares fall for second session after US indictments – Reuters

Adani Group companies’ shares fell for a second straight day on Friday after U.S. prosecutors charged the Indian conglomerate’s billionaire chairman in an alleged bribery and fraud scheme.

Gautam Adani’s flagship Adani Enterprises fell 4% to hit their lowest since May 2023.

Adani Ports, Adani Total Gas, Adani Green, Adani Power, Adani Wilmar and Adani Energy Solutions fell between 3% and 10%.

ACC was down 0.5%, while Ambuja Cements and NDTV rose about 1% each.

Reuters input

Adani Group stocks: Adani probe may worsen global funds’ exit from Indian equities – Bloomberg

An unprecedented bribery charge from US prosecutors against India’s largest corporate group is threatening to deepen the record exodus of global funds from the nation’s equities.

Adani Group’s shares lost nearly $27 billion in market value Thursday after US federal prosecutors accused its billionaire founder and other executives of allegedly plotting to bribe Indian government officials to win solar energy contracts. That may exacerbate the outflows from overseas investors who have already offloaded $14 billion of stocks since the end of September, including a record amount last month.

Although the Adani Group has limited sway over India’s $4.4 trillion stock market due to its relatively low weighting in the main equity gauges, the indictment will likely raise fresh doubts about corporate governance in the country. These new concerns add to existing worries about the slowdown in the earnings momentum that have pushed the main NSE Nifty 50 Index to a five-month low.

“The US charges on Adani Group could further spark risk-off sentiment,” said Nitin Chanduka, a strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence. India’s market is already “grappling with the sharpest earnings downgrades since the pandemic, with rich valuations resulting in a strong foreign exodus,” he said. 

Adani has denied the allegations, calling them baseless, and announced plans to seek legal recourse.

Bloomberg input

Adani Group: Can it weather the storm?

Last time it was the ‘Foreign Shortseller’ and this time it is the ‘Foreign Court.’ Can the Adani Group weather the storm this time?

To begin with it is important to understand that charges under US Federal Law – Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) are not business breaking. Quite a few companies have managed to comfortably deal with it by paying some hefty penalties. But difference here though is that many of these companies like Cognizant Technology Solutions, Walmart, SAP amongst others were not frequently in the markets for capital raise. This is one area where, the Adani Group is likely to face speed bumps. Moody’s made a comment that the bribery allegations is credit negative event. Precisely the kind of events that stonewall the group’s insatiable appetite to expand fast by borrow large.

bl Research Bureau|​Read here​

Majority of Adani Group stocks dip further for the second day

• Adani Energy Solutions (-5.26%)
• Adani Green Energy (-5.20%)
• Adani Enterprises (-1.27%)
• Ambuja Cement (+1.62%)
• Adani Ports & SEZ (-1.13%)
• Adani Wilmar (-1.10%)
• Adani Power (-0.55%)
• Adani Total Gas (+0.03%)
• ACC (+1.72%)
• NDTV (+1.15%)

(NSE data as at 9.28 am)