'The loop is complete': Hindenburg reacts to OCCRP report on Adani's offshore funds

US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research, which originally flagged the corporate governance issues in the Gautam Adani-led conglomerate, on Friday said the latest claims made by the OCCRP corroborate findings in its January report.

"Finally, the loop is closed. The Financial Times and OCCRP report that offshore funds owning at least 13% of the free float in multiple Adani stocks were secretly controlled by associates of Vinod Adani, masking the relationship with 2 sets of books," Hindenburg said in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Responding to OCCRP's report, Adani said that it "categorically" rejected the its findings and accused the investigative journalism network of seeking to profit by "driving down our stock prices". "We have complete faith in the due process of law and remain confident of the quality of our disclosures and corporate governance standards," it said.



Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which is supported by Hungarian-born billionaire investor George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, shared its findings with The Guardian and The Financial Times.

"These documents, which have been corroborated by people with direct knowledge of the Adani Group’s business and public records from multiple countries, show how hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded Adani stock through opaque investment funds based in the island nation of Mauritius," the report said.

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All 10 listed Adani stocks retreated in early Thursday trading and most of the group’s dollar bonds also fell. Shares of flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. dropped 4.4% before paring losses.

Hindenburg's Nate Anderson too posted on X, citing The Guardian's report which released parallel reporting corroborating the role of Vinod Adani’s associates in secretly buying stock in Adani companies.

Both Hindenburg and OCCRP's findings highlight the involvement of one Chang Chung-Ling. OCCRP also names Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli, saying that both these individuals spent years trading hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Adani Group stock.

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The report claims that Nasser and Chang have close ties to the Adani family, including appearing as directors and shareholders in affiliated companies. "Records show that the investment funds they used to trade in Adani Group stock received instructions from a company controlled by a senior member of the Adani family," OCCRP wrote.

In its January response to Hindenburg's accusations, the Adani group said all related party transactions had been fully identified and disclosed. The group could not comment on the trading pattern of offshore investors as they were public shareholders, it added.

ALSO READ: Adani addresses Hindenburg allegations head-on at AGM, says vested interests wrote report to hurt the company

Following the rout in Adani stocks owing to Hindenburg's January findings, the Supreme Court set up a panel of experts to oversee markets regulator SEBI's findings in the matter. On Friday, SEBI informed the SC it had very nearly completed its investigation into the Adani group's dealings, and that it was waiting for a few more details for two of its 24 matters in the probe.

(With agency inputs)