MUMBAI: Under-fire Indian tycoon Gautam Adani insists on Thursday February 2 that the fundamentals of his conglomerate were strong even as shares in its companies plunged again after the group cancelled a multi-billion dollar stock sale.
Adani's empire has lost more than $100 billion after US short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the firm of accounting fraud last week.
The sale of shares in Adani Enterprises was intended to raise $2.5 billion to help reduce debt levels and broaden its shareholder base, as well as reduce debt levels, which have been a concern for the company for a long time.
Small investors stayed away as the market price fell below the offer range and it was only fully subscribed after support from Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company as well as the fellow Indian tycoons Sajjan Jindal and Sunil Mittal, according to Bloomberg.
Adani Enterprises' share price plunged another 28.45 per cent in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The Swiss bank giant Credit Suisse stopped accepting Adani bonds as collateral for loans it advances to private banking clients, Bloomberg reported.
Adani Enterprises lost 10 per cent, forcing trading to be suspended in its shares and a number of other Adani companies.
The firm said that going ahead with the issue would not be morally correct. Adani himself issued a video statement on Thursday, in which he stated that the fundamentals of our company are very strong, our balance sheet is healthy and assets robust. The slide in Adani's personal wealth has seen him fall out of the top 10 real-time Forbes rich list and overtaken as Asia's richest man by fellow Indian Mukesh Ambani.
Adani, 60, has seen his empire expand at a breakneck pace, with shares in Adani Enterprises soaring more than a thousand per cent over the past five years.
He became the third-richest man in the world last week, behind Elon Musk and France's Bernard Arnault and his family.
Adani has artificially boosted the share prices of its units by funnelling money into the stocks through offshore tax havens, according to Hindenburg Research.
This brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme is the largest con in corporate history, according to a report by Hindenburg.
Adani said it was the victim of a maliciously mischievous reputational attack and issued a 413-sided statement on Sunday saying Hindenburg's claims were nothing but a lie. In response, Adani said that Adani's statement did not answer most of the questions raised in its report.
Critics say Adani's close relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has helped him win business and avoid regulatory oversight.
Modi, like Adani is from Gujarat state, has not commented publicly since the Hindenburg claims, which analysts say hurt India's image as it seeks to woo overseas investors away from China.
The firm's many interests include ports - the firm took control of one of Israel's biggest this week - telecoms, airports, media and coal, oil and solar power.
India's opposition Congress party called for a serious investigation by the central bank and regulators into Adani's firms after Hindenburg allegations.
What do the Modi government do to blindly look at the activities of its favourite business group for all its postsuring about black money? Congress said so.