Adani Group-Hindenburg saga: MSCI seeks feedback on Adani Group over Hindenburg report

Index provider MSCI on Saturday said it was seeking feedback on Adani Group and associated securities and was aware of a report issued by short-seller Hindenburg Research.

Seven listed companies of the Adani conglomerate - controlled by one of the world's richest men Gautam Adani - have lost a combined more than 4 lakh crore in market value and US bonds of Adani firms have fallen since Hindenburg – a financial research firm – on Tuesday flagged concerns about debt levels and the use of tax havens.

"MSCI is closely monitoring publicly available information regarding the situation and the factors that may impact the eligibility of those relevant securities for the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes," it said in a statement.

Adani Group did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. It has dismissed the Hindenburg report as baseless and said it was considering whether to take legal action against the New York-based firm.

According to Reuters report, the Securities Exchange Board of India – market regulator – has increased scrutiny of deals by the Adani Group over the past year.

The regulator will study a report issued by short-seller Hindenburg Research to add to its own ongoing preliminary investigation into the group’s foreign portfolio investors, according to two sources aware of the matter.

On Wednesday, the US short-seller said it held short positions in the Indian conglomerate, accusing it of improper use of offshore tax havens and flagging concerns about high debt, leading to a massive sell-off of India-listed shares of the conglomerate's companies.

“SEBI has been increasingly examining all the transactions that Adani Group has been undertaking in the listed space," said the first of the two sources, who declined to be identified as the matter is confidential.

With Reuters Inputs