New Delhi: An expert committee, appointed by the Supreme Court to look into American short seller Hindenburg Research’s critical report of the Adani Group on 24 January, has informed the top court that they found no price manipulation by the billionaire’s ports-to-power conglomerate at this point.
“No pattern of artificial trading or wash trades among the same parties multiple times was found. No coherent pattern of abusive trading came to light,” the committee said in a 6 May report, as quoted by news agency ANI.
The findings also said: “At this point, no violation found on MPS (Minimum Public Shareholding) compliances. Committee has clearly stated that the regulator hasn’t been able to prove that its suspicion can be translated into a firm case of prosecuting an allegation of violation.”
The panel said Adani has taken necessary steps to comfort retail investors. “Empirical data shows retail investment exposure to Adani stocks increased multifold after January 24, mitigating measures by the Group helped in building confidence in the stock & stocks are stable now,” the panel added.
The report took into account the explanations provided by markets regulator SEBI — which it said were supported by “supported by empirical data” — and inferred it would not be possible for the committee to conclude prima facie that there has been any regulatory failure around the allegation of price manipulation.
The panel said the market watchdog has “drawn a blank” in investigations into suspected violations by overseas entities allegedly linked to the Adani group. This, despite involving various Indian and overseas agencies in the investigation across multiple countries, the report said.
The panel added: “Parties have affirmed on oath that FPI (Foreign portfolio investment) investments are not funded by the Adani Group. SEBI has not proved that its suspicion can be translated into a firm case.”
In a report on 24 January, US-based Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation and improper use of tax havens, allegations the group called baseless. The report had sunk Adani stocks at that time, raising concerns about safety to investors.
On 2 March, the apex court had set up the six-member expert committee to examine the issue arising from the report on the Adani Group.
SC also directed SEBI or the Securities and Exchange Board of India to investigate whether there was any manipulation of stock prices.
Also read: Supreme Court grants SEBI three more months to finish probe on Adani group