Adani Group says it lost nearly US$55 billion as US charges sparked rout

“SIGNIFICANT Ramifications”

The team said the action had led to” major repercussions”, including “international project delays, financial marketplace impact and rapid examination from corporate partners, owners and the public”.

That included Kenya, where President William Ruto announced that the Adani Group may no longer be involved in plans to expand the South American nation’s major airports and power system.

The Adani Group was to spend US$ 1.85 billion in Jomo Kenyatta aircraft and US$ 736 million in state-owned power KETRACO.

Sri Lanka has opened an investigation into the nearby assets of the group, including a US$ 442 million wind energy package and an Adani-led deep-sea dock connector in Colombo, which is estimated to cost more than US$ 700 million.

Adani Group, which has an extensive business empire that includes coal, airports, cement, and media, has escaped prior allegations of corporate fraud and experienced a stock rout comparable to that of last year.

After being accused of “brazen” corporate fraud in a statement by short-seller Hindenburg Research, the company saw US$$ 150 billion removed from its market price in 2023.

Adani denied Hindenburg’s claims and called its record a “deliberate test” to damage its picture for the benefit of short-sellers.

Adani Group’s rapid rise into capital-intensive firms has raised alarms in the past, with Fitch company and industry researcher CreditSights in 2022 notice it was “deeply over-leveraged”.

Adani, who was born to a middle-class family in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, dropped out of school at 16 and moved to Mumbai to find work in the financial capital’s lucrative gem trade.

He branched out into the export trade in 1988 after a short stint in his brother’s plastics company.