Gautam Adani fell out of the top of the world’s richest people. Asia’s richest man lost over $20 billion on Friday. This is the result of a sharp drop in the price of shares belonging to the Adani Group, which is accused by the American investment company Hindenburg Research, among other things, of accounting fraud.
The BBC reported that more than $20 billion had evaporated from the wealth of the Indian billionaire and Asia’s richest man on Friday. With a net worth of $96.6 billion, Gautam Adani is now the seventh richest person in the world, according to Forbes, after falling from third place. It is in the first place Elon Muskon the second Bernard Arnault.
American company report
US investment firm Hindenburg Research on Tuesday released a report, the result of a two-year investigation, accusing the Adani Group of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud over decades”.
As indicated, Gautam Adani, founder and chairman of the Adani Group, has amassed a net worth of approximately $120 billion, gaining more than $100 billion in the last three years alone, mainly due to the increase in share prices of seven key publicly traded companies, which during this period increased by an average of 819 percent.
The report includes allegations of use of tax havens and money laundering.
Adani Group rejected the report, calling the allegations unsubstantiated, and said it was considering whether to take legal action against the New York-based US firm.
Gautam AdaniINDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/EastNews
Sharp stock price decline
Adani Group shares fell 20 percent on Friday. are Adani Transmission Ltd, Adani Total Gas and Adani Green Energy. It was the worst session in history for these values. Adani Ports and the Special Economic Zone, on the other hand, were down 16.3 percent. The shares of the flagship company from the conglomerate, i.e. Adani Enterprises, were also discounted by nearly 20 percent.
Reuters estimates that the market capitalization of seven publicly traded companies – controlled by Adani – fell by a total of $48 billion.
Reuters noted that the 60-year-old hails from the western state of Gujarat, the prime minister’s home state India Narendra Modi. The country’s main opposition party has often accused Adani and other billionaires of lenient treatment by the Modi administration, which the billionaire denies.
Adani Group was established in 1988, starting with commodity trading. The conglomerate’s business interests now range from ports and airports to mining and renewable energy, Reuters pointed out.
Main photo source: INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/EastNews