Adani-Hindenburg case: Sebi concludes 22 probes, submits report to SC

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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has concluded all barring two of its investigations into the allegations made by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research against Gujarat-based conglomerate Adani Group, the market regulator submitted in its status report to the Supreme Court on Friday.

 


Sebi has said 22 of the 24 investigations had been completed. The two remaining are at an interim stage.

 


The investigations are into the possible violations of minimum public shareholding (MPS) norms, takeover regulations, related-party transactions (RPT), manipulation in stock prices, and insider trading.

 


However, Sebi has not commented on any violation or otherwise.

 


The regulator has given details such as the number of emails sent, documents examined, personal hearing, and trades analysed.

 


In a status report submitted on August 14, Sebi had completed 17 investigations and had sought an extension of 15 days to complete the ones in process.

 


Sebi has sought information from overseas regulators and entities for evaluating the further course of action in one investigation involving 12 foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and a foreign entity. This information is to ascertain any possible violation of MPS norms at listed companies of the Gautam Adani-led group.

 


“As many of the entities linked to these foreign investors are located in tax haven jurisdictions, establishing the economic interest shareholders of the 12 FPIs remains a challenge. However, efforts are still being made to gather details from five foreign jurisdictions pertaining to the economic interest shareholders of the FPIs,” said Sebi.


The other investigation at the interim stage is one for ascertaining possible insider-trading around the time of release of the report by Hindenburg in January. Here too Sebi is awaiting more information from external entities.


Meanwhile, Sebi has concluded its findings on allegations of insider trading in Adani Power, Ambuja Cement, and Adani Green during the period between January 2021 and October 2022.


In its investigations of the possible manipulation of stock prices and trading volumes at seven Adani Group scrips, Sebi analysed trades by three clusters of FPIs. Sebi pointed out it had examined 347 million trades during this investigation.


In the status report, Sebi has cited the 13 related-party transactions (RPTs) where investigations have been concluded for the period between April 1, 2005 and March 31, 2023.


Sebi has investigated RPTs and loan transactions by group firms Adani Enterprises, Adani Infra, Adani Power, Adani Mining Pte, and Adani Global with several parties including NQXT, Adicorp, Carmichael Rail and Port Singapore Holdings, Rehvar Infrastructure, Milestone Tradelinks, and PMC Projects among others.


The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter on August 29.

The court, on March 2, had directed Sebi to complete its investigation in two months. However, on Sebi’s request, an extension of three months was granted in May for concluding the findings by August 14. The markets regulator had again requested a fortnight’s extension.