The rally in shares of Adani Group companies has driven the market value of Rajiv Jain’s investment in the group companies by 49% to Rs 23,049 crore since March 3.
Jain is the chairman, CIO and portfolio manager of GQG Partners, which manages $92 billion in assets in global and emerging markets equities funds, and had invested Rs 15,446 crore in Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports & SEZ, Adani Transmission and Adani Green through block deals in March.
The market value of the group stocks nudged past the Rs 10-trillion mark. Flagship Adani Enterprises rallied 18.8% to end at Rs 2,325. Adani Wilmar gained 10% to Rs 444.4, while Adani Ports & SEZ rose 6% to Rs 729. Shares of the rest of the Adani Group firms gained 5% each, hitting the upper limit.
“At this stage, taking into account the explanations provided by Sebi, supported by empirical data, prima facie, it would not be possible for the committee to conclude that there has been a regulatory failure around the allegation of price manipulation,” the SC panel report said.
While the panel did not give a clean chit to the Adani Group, it did not find any conclusive wrongdoing with respect to minimum public shareholding norms, stock price manipulation and disclosures related to related party transactions.
“Adani stocks had corrected hugely after the Hindenburg report. The high integrity of the members of the panel must have given confidence to investors to buy the beaten-down stocks. Some short covering also would have contributed to the rally. However, from a valuation perspective, Adani stocks are not undervalued,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
The Adani Group accomplished full pre-payment of margin linked, share-backed financing aggregating to $2.15 bn by March 12 this year. Promoters pre-paid $500-million facility taken for Ambuja acquisition, taking equity in Ambuja financing to $2.6 billion (out of $6.6 billion). Pre-payment was done along with interest payment of $200 million, according to brokerage Jefferies.
Adani Group is a diversified conglomerate and has positioned itself to be the market leader in the transport logistics and energy utility portfolio businesses, focusing on large-scale infrastructure development in India over the years. Adani Enterprises incubates various new businesses and provides all required support until they become self-sustainable.