Promoter buys 2.2% in Adani Enterprises, raises overall stake to 69.87% in August

A promoter group has raised stake in Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of ports-to-energy conglomerate Adani Group, in August.

Between August 7 and 18, Kempas Trade and Investment bought 2.53 crore shares or 2.22% in Adani Enterprises, increasing the overall stake of promoters in the company to 69.87%. Promoters held 67.65% in Adani Enterprises at the end of June quarter.

Currently, the remaining 31% is held by public shareholders, under which US-based investor GQG holds 2.67%. LIC, one of India's biggest domestic institutional investors, also owns 4.26% in the company.


Following corporate governance allegations by US-based short seller Hindenburg, GQG Partners went against the market sentiments and invested in Adani stocks.
Back in March, it had invested over Rs 15,000 crore and picked up stake in four Adani companies, including Adani Enterprises.

Since then, the boutique investment company has ramped up its shareholding in Adani Group companies in a sign of its confidence in the group.

In June, GQG bought another $1 billion (Rs 8,265 crore) worth of additional stakes in the group's flagship Adani Enterprises and renewable energy firm Adani Green Energy.

In a bombshell report, Hindenburg in January alleged accounting fraud and stock price manipulation at the group, triggering a stock market rout that had erased about $150 billion in its market value at its lowest point. Adani Group has denied all the allegations.

The conglomerate is plotting a comeback strategy that includes pre-paying debt, scrapping acquisitions to address concerns.

In the recent first quarter, Adani Enterprises reported a 44% rise in first-quarter profit, as performance at its new energy division outpaced a weak growth in the key coal trading division.

The company's consolidated profit rose to Rs 674 crore ($81.5 million) for the quarter ended June, from Rs 469 crore a year ago.

The company's mainstay coal business posted a small 5% rise in EBITDA at Rs 1000 crore due to a fall in coal prices, while that of the Adani New Energy segment jumped seven-fold to Rs 355 crore.

On Friday, the company's shares closed 2.31% higher at Rs 2,637 apiece on NSE. On a year-to-date basis, the stock is still down 32%.