Adani group’s bonds tumble after Gautam Adani charged in US with bribery, fraud
Dollar bond prices of Adani Group companies dropped significantly in early Asian trading on Thursday, November 21, following the indictment of the conglomerate’s billionaire chairman, Gautam Adani, in New York on charges of bribery and fraud, news agency Reuters reported.
Debt issued by Adani Port and Special Economic Zone, maturing in August 2027, declined over five cents on the dollar, as per LSEG data. Bonds of Adani Electricity Mumbai, maturing in February 2030, fell nearly eight cents, while those of Adani Transmission also saw drops exceeding five cents, trading slightly above 80 cents, it reported.
These declines mark the steepest since February 2023, when a report by short-seller Hindenburg Research raised concerns over the Adani group’s debt levels and use of tax havens.
Gautam Adani charged in bribery scheme: US prosecutor
Billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged with paying hundreds of millions of dollars of bribes and hiding the payments from investors, US prosecutors said on Wednesday.
“This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice,” news agency AFP quoted deputy assistant attorney general Lisa Miller as saying.
Gautam Adani, 62, his nephew Sagar Adani, 30, executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd, and Cyril Cabanes, an executive of Azure Power Global Ltd were charged with conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, as well as substantive securities fraud, for their roles in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions through false and misleading statements, news agency PTI reported.
The SEC alleged that the bribery scheme was orchestrated to enable renewable energy companies Adani Green and Azure Power to capitalise on a multi-billion-dollar solar energy project awarded by the Indian government.
The complaint charges them with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and seeks permanent injunctions, civil penalties, and officer and director bars, the PTI report added.
The SEC said in a statement that during the alleged scheme, Adani Green raised more than USD 175 million from US investors, and Azure Power’s stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Simultaneously, the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of New York unsealed criminal charges against Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, Cabanes, and others linked to Adani Green and Azure Power.
The federal indictment unsealed in a federal court in Brooklyn charges five others with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the bribery scheme, involving one of the world’s largest solar energy projects.
Gautam Adani and seven other executives are accused of bribing Indian government officials to secure lucrative contracts and defrauding investors by making false statements about bribery and corruption.
They also allegedly tried to obstruct investigations, according to FBI assistant director James Dennehy.