Adani Power has US$1 billion worth of shares change hands

ADANI Power had 8.1 per cent of its total outstanding shares worth about US$1 billion traded in five blocks on Wednesday (Aug 16) as the ports-to-power conglomerate deepened its efforts to recover from a short-seller attack.

The buyers and sellers were not immediately known, but 310.9 million shares changed hands, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company’s stock fell as much as 4.1 per cent after the bunched trades to 274.4 rupees (S$4.47) and based on the average price, the deals are worth US$1 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations. 

An Adani family entity is likely the seller while a global fund probably bought the stock, CNBC-TV18 reported, citing unnamed sources.

The block deals come after the Qatar Investment Authority bought a roughly 2.7 per cent stake in billionaire Gautam Adani’s listed green energy business earlier this month as the tycoon has spent months attempting to repair the damage from Hindenburg Research’s January broadside. 

The report by the US short-seller alleged that Adani Group engaged in years-long corporate fraud and stock price manipulation, charges that the company has repeatedly denied. It nevertheless fuelled a major stock and bond sell off, from which the conglomerate has only partly recovered from.

“Sale of more shares in Adani companies could help meet the group’s large funding needs and fund growth, assuming governance concerns persist and lead to weakened funding access,” Sharon Chen, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, wrote in a research note earlier on Wednesday. Adani’s family “could raise more than US$15 billion while maintaining control of its key listed entities, based on share prices as of Aug 14,” she said. BLOOMBERG