Adani stocks fall on report of US bribery probe

Listed firms under the Adani Group witnessed a decline in shares on Monday following a report by Bloomberg indicating an expanded investigation by the U.S. government into the conglomerate on suspicions of bribery.

Adani Enterprises Ltd (NS:ADEL), the flagship firm of the group, experienced a nearly 4% drop in early trading, while Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (NS:APSE) saw a decrease of 2.9%. Similarly, Adani Power Ltd (NS:ADAN), Adani Green Energy Ltd (NS:ADNA), and Adani Energy Solutions Ltd (NS:ADAI) registered losses ranging between 2% and 3%.

These declines surpassed the broader losses observed in the Nifty 50 index, which fell by 0.3%.

According to Bloomberg’s report on Friday, the investigation by the U.S. government is exploring the actions of founder and Chairman Gautam Adani, as well as potential involvement of Adani entities or affiliates in bribing Indian officials for favorable treatment on energy projects. The investigation is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York and the Department of Justice’s fraud unit. Additionally, it is also scrutinizing Indian renewable energy company Azure Power.

Adani responded by stating it was unaware of any investigation against the firm or its founder.

The Bloomberg report follows a previous report by short seller Hindenburg Research over a year ago, which accused Adani of fraud and market manipulation. Adani denied these allegations and was recently cleared by India’s securities regulator.

Although the Hindenburg report initially led to significant losses exceeding $100 billion in Adani shares, the shares had since recovered and even surpassed levels seen before the Hindenburg report.

However, data from Monday indicates that Adani’s dollar-denominated bonds experienced notable losses following the Bloomberg report, partly due to its connection with some of the allegations raised by the Hindenburg note.