Adani rout creates a dent in Quant MF portfolios as key holdings shed 24%

At the end of January, Quant MF had close to Rs 950 crore investment in Adani Ports and Ambuja Cement

Quant Mutual Fund's holdings in Adani group stocks remained mostly unchanged even as the crisis broke late last month.

Eleven out of 13 active schemes held the same number of shares in Adani Ports and Ambuja Cement at the end of January 2023 as they were in December 2022, data shows.

The rout in prices of these shares in the last few days of January led to a sharp decline in the value of holdings. In schemes where the holdings were intact, the value of investments in Adani Ports and Ambuja Cement had declined 24 per cent month-on-month to around Rs 950 crore at the end of January.

Shares of Adani group companies have shed billions of dollars after short seller Hindenburg Research released a scathing report against the conglomerate on January 24.

The rout in Adani Ports and Ambuja Cement—the two companies that feature in most of Quant MF’s portfolios—led to major losses for the schemes. Quant Active Fund, which owned two million shares of Adani Ports at the end of both December and January, saw the market value of the holding decline from Rs 169 crore to Rs 127 crore, shows data from Value Research.

Quant Tax Plan, which held the second highest number of shares of Adani Ports among Quant MF schemes, saw the holdings' valuation fall from Rs 153 crore to Rs 115 crore. The net asset value (NAV) of the two schemes declined 5.4 per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively in January. Most schemes offered by Quant MF have underperformed the market so far this year.

Two of Quant MF schemes — ESG Equity and Quantamental Fund — moved out of Adani Ports in January.