The number of retail investors in Adani Group firms rose in January-March quarter as they rushed in to cash in on the sliding share prices, following a Hindenburg Research report that shaved off half its market cap. Buying the dip, retail shareholders also increased their stake in all the 10 listed companies, while promoters’ holdings in some of the firms fell.
The total number of retail investors across Adani group companies rose by 47.4% to 6.95 million by the end of March.
The change was highest in Adani Enterprises (AEL), the group’s flagship company, with the number of retail investors rising to 729,172 as of March end, nearly tripled from 243,802 as of December 2022. The total retail shareholding in the company rose to 3.41% as of March, compared with 1.86% as of December, according to data sourced from BSE.
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Adani Total Gas came in second with the number of retail investors rising by 124.8% to 294,140 from the earlier 130,822, followed by Adani Transmission with the number of retail investors rising by 113.7% to 317,611. The retail shareholders in newly acquired firms such as NDTV (up by 23%), Ambuja Cements (50.8%) and ACC (30.2%) also rose during the review period. Similarly, retail investors rushed into buy stocks of Adani Power, Adani Wilmar, Adani Ports and Adani Green.
Retail shareholders are defined as resident individuals holding nominal shares of upto Rs 200,000.
However, the promoters’ holding in some of the group companies fell. AEL’s promoter holding fell to 69.23% as of March from 72.63% in December, as the group sold shares to Rajiv Jain, chief investment officer of GQG Partners. Similarly, that of Adani Transmission fell to 71.65% from 74.19%, Adani Ports to 61.03% (65.13%) and Adani Green to 57.26% (60.75%).
However, the promoters’ shares in group firms such as Adani Total Gas (74.80%), NDTV (69.71%), Adani Power (74.97%) and Adani Wilmar (87.94%) remained steady.
The percentage of pledged shares in most of the companies fell during the period, as the group repaid debt.
On March 12, Adani Group said it pre-paid a total of $2.65 billion debt that included margin-linked share-backed financing and another $500 million taken for acquisition of Holcim Group’s Indian assets, ahead of the March 31 deadline.
Pledged shares in AEL fell to 0.64%, Adani Transmission to 3.75% and Adani Ports to 4.66%. While the pledged shares of Adani Power rose marginally to 25.15%, that in ACC and Ambuja Cements remained unchanged.
On January 24, US-based Hindenberg Research published a two-year investigation’s findings, alleging that Adani had participated in market manipulation and accounting malpractices. The group had denied all allegations.
Meanwhile, Life Insurance Corporation of India’s (LIC) stake in Adani Enterprises rose from 4.23% in the December quarter to 4.26% by the end of March 2023.
