Abu Dhabi’s IHC says its outlook on Adani Group investments is unchanged

International Holding Company (IHC’s) outlook on investments in India’s Adani Group remains unchanged, the Abu Dhabi conglomerate said following the US indictment of billionaire Gautam Adani.

“Our partnership with the Adani Group reflects our confidence in their contributions to the green energy and sustainability sectors,” IHC, one of the Indian business group’s key foreign investors, said in a statement on Wednesday.

“As with all our investments, our team continues to evaluate relevant information and developments. At this time, our outlook on these investments remains unchanged.”

Adani Green shares rose a further 7 per cent in early trade on Thursday, following a 10 per cent gain on Wednesday, while the majority of the conglomerate’s stocks were in positive territory.

The Adani group’s stock losses have narrowed to $14.7bn from about $33bn since the US indictments were levelled last week.

Last week US authorities accused Adani, his nephew and executive director Sagar Adani and the managing director of Adani Green ADNA.NS, Vneet S. Jaain, of being part of a scheme to pay bribes of $265m to secure Indian power supply contracts.

Five other Adani associates were charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a US anti-bribery law, and four were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice.

The ports-to-power conglomerate denied the charges as “baseless” and vowed to seek “all possible legal recourse”.

In October last year, IHC boosted its stake in Adani Enterprises ADEL.NS to more than 5 per cent after it sold down its investments in two other Adani companies. At the time, IHC said Adani Enterprises, the group’s flagship company, was “uniquely poised to capitalise on India’s robust growth journey”.

The increased investment came after short seller Hindenburg Research accused the conglomerate in January last year of stock manipulation and significantly high debt levels. Adani Group denied those allegations.

Adani and an IHC subsidiary last year formed a technology joint venture to create a platform to use AI and enterprise blockchain products to work on the digitisation of the Indian economy.

Adani Green, the company at the centre of the indictment, said on Wednesday Gautam Adani had been charged in the United States for alleged violations of securities law and faced potential fines but had not been charged under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

In a stock exchange filing, Adani Green said a complaint by US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sought “an order directing the defendants to pay civil monetary penalties (but) it does not quantify the amount of penalty”.

The civil action launched by the SEC runs in parallel to US federal prosecutors’ indictment against Adani and others.