The war of words between Hindenburg Research and Adani group escalated on Monday after the US-based short seller shared its rebuttal to Gautam Adani-led conglomerate’s 413-page response to allegations of fraud. In its rebuttal, Hindenburg trolled Adani group, saying that some of the explanations offered by the company defy common sense. For the unversed, Hindenburg in a report last week claimed that the Adani group had links with offshore tax havens and that its exposure to high debt was a concern. The report also claimed that Adani group’s stock price was inflated and had significant downside risks. Here’s a look at five of the most epic trolls of Adani in Hindenburg’s rebuttal to Adani’s detailed response denying allegations of any fraud.
5 epic trolls of Adani group by Hindenburg Research
Madoff of Manhattan: On Sunday, Adani Group claimed that the Hindenburg short sellers were the “Madoffs of Manhattan”, referring to American fraudster and financier Bernard Lawrence Madoff aka Bernie Madoff, who was the mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history worth about $64.8 billion. Taking a jibe at what Hindenburg called a “sensationalistic claim”, the US firm said, “Adani seems unaware that Madoff lived in Manhattan, so he was quite literally his own Madoff of Manhattan.”
Explanations simply defy common sense: Hindenburg in its research report raised questions about transactions emanating from entities where Gautam Adani’s brother Vinod Adani or the head of the Adani Group Family Investment Office served as directors. In response to which, Adani group said. “We are neither aware nor required to be aware of their ‘source of funds’” It also added that it is “not in a position to comment on… allegations on the business dealings and transactions of Mr Vinod Adani.” Hindenburg hit at the conglomerate saying the explanations simply defy common sense.
Family dinner and dubious finances: Taking a cheeky dig further about Adani group claiming they are ignorant of the source of the billions of US dollars that have flowed from Vinod Adani-associated offshore shell entities through the Adani group, Hindenburg said, “We are expected to believe that Gautam Adani has no idea why his brother Vinod lent massive sums of money to Adani entities and no idea where the money originated from. If any of that were true, Gautam could easily clear up the mystery by calling his brother, or asking him at the next family dinner, why he has been directing billions of dollars to Adani-controlled entities through a network of opaque offshore shell entities.”
Bloated response with no substance: Hours after the Adani Group published a 413-page rebuttal to allegations of fraud by Hindenburg Research, the short-seller said the statement ignores key allegations. “Fraud cannot be obfuscated by nationalism or a bloated response that ignores every key allegation we raised,” Hindenburg said, adding that in its long response, Adani group company failed to “specifically answer” 62 of 88 questions. “Of the questions it did answer, the group largely confirmed or attempted to sidestep our findings,” said the short-seller. In terms of substance, “Adani’s ‘413 page’ response only included about 30 pages focused on issues related to our report. The remainder of the response consisted of 330 pages of court records, along with 53 pages of high-level financials, general information, and details on irrelevant corporate initiatives,” it said.
Draped India’s flag while looting it: Hitting back at the Indian conglomerate for claiming that the fraud allegation by them was a “calculated attack on India”, Hindenburg Research on Monday said Adani “predictably tried to lead the focus away from substantive issues and instead stoked a nationalist narrative.” The investment research firm trolled the company saying, “To be clear, we believe India is a vibrant democracy and an emerging superpower with an exciting future. We also believe India’s future is being held back by the Adani Group, which has draped itself in the Indian flag while systematically looting the nation.” It cheekily added, ” A fraud is fraud, even when it’s perpetrated by one of the wealthiest individuals in the world.”