Adani Group Says Report of Freezing 3 FPI Accounts Worth ₹43,500 cr 'Blatantly Erroneous'

Adani Group on Monday clarified that a report claiming National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) had frozen accounts of three foreign funds that together own shares worth ₹43,500 crore in its companies are “blatantly erroneous and is done to deliberately mislead the investing community.”

“This is causing irreparable loss of economic value to the investors at large and reputation of the group,” the company said in a regulatory filing.

Three Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) of Adani Group — Albula Investment Fund, Cresta Fund and APMS Investment Fund were frozen  on or before May 31, as per the depository’s website, the Economic Times reported. These three FPIs together own more than Rs 43,500 crore worth of shares in Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas.

Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the group controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani, had plunged as much as 25%, its steepest fall in nearly a decade. Nifty 50-listed Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone fell as much as 19% before paring losses.

“Given the seriousness of the article and its consequential adverse impact on

minority investors, we requested Registrar and Transfer Agent, with respect to the status of the Demat Account of the aforesaid funds and have their written confirmation vide its e-mail dated 14th June, 2021, clarifying that the Demat Account in which the aforesaid funds hold the shares of the Company are not frozen,” Adani Group mentioned in the BSE filing.

All the three funds are based out of Mauritius and registered with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). They together hold 6.82 per cent in Adani Enterprises, 8.03 per cent in Adani Transmission, 5.92 per cent in Adani Total Gas, and 3.58 per cent in Adani Green, according to the report.  They are registered at the same address in Port Louis, the report stated.

The value of their stakes in Adani Power, Adani Enterprises, Adani Green, Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas Ltd spiked over 10-fold since end-March 2020 to 569.32 billion rupees ($7.78 billion) as of Friday, according to Reuters calculations. Adani Group founder Gautam Adani has become the second wealthiest person in Asia after the recent surge in group stocks.

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