 "Adani Group")
By Chiranjivi Chakraborty and Ishika Mookerjee
Star investor Rajiv Jain’s maiden bet on four Adani Group companies has yielded gains of about $2.4 billion as the Indian conglomerate rebounds after a damaging short-seller report last year.
Jain’s $1.9 billion investment in Gautam Adani’s empire has soared 130 per cent to about $4.3 billion in just 10 months, according to Bloomberg calculations. The stock price of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd., widely deemed the crown jewel of the group, is the latest to double Wednesday since GQG Partners Inc.’s initial purchase in March. The shares closed at a record after gaining 1.4 per cent.
While Adani Green Energy Ltd. doubled from the price GQG paid soon after the purchase in March, flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. reached that milestone in December. Adani Energy Solutions Ltd., part of the initial four group firms that GQG bought into weeks after the conglomerate was stung by a short-seller report, is more than 10 per cent away from reaching that level. The current shareholding of GQG Partners in the Adani group is not readily available.
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Emerging market investor Jain cut against the grain when he bought battered Adani shares following Hindenburg Research’s allegations of accounting fraud, which the company has repeatedly denied. The value of ports-to-power conglomerate’s stocks had nosedived more than $150 billion at one point and a rally over the past six weeks has helped boost Jain’s investments.
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The latest upswing in the stocks is being driven by the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict rejecting appeals for further probe into Adani’s businesses, and a $553-million investment by a US-backed agency in the group’s port business in Sri Lanka.
The asset manager plowed $1 billion more in the flagship and green energy units of Adani in June, and Adani Power Ltd. to its portfolio in August. Adani Power shares have climbed nearly 80 per cent since then.
The value of GQG Partners’ investments in Adani stood at more than $7 billion at the end of November, the asset manager told Bloomberg last month.
