New Delhi: Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company (IHC), one of the largest sovereign funds that manages assets close to USD 100 billion, has reaffirmed its support to the Adani Group, saying its outlook on investments in the group remains unchanged despite the US indictment of the conglomerate’s founder chairman Gautam Adani.

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

“As with all our investments, our team continues to evaluate relevant information and developments. At this time, our outlook on these investments remains unchanged.” IHC had, in April 2022, invested about USD 500 million each in the renewables arm Adani Green Energy and power company Adani Transmission and a further USD 1 billion in the group’s flagship Adani Enterprises. Later, it sold its 1.26 per cent stake in AGEL and 1.41 per cent in ATL, now called Adani Energy Solutions Ltd, but hiked its stake in Adani Enterprises Ltd to over 5 per cent.

The IHC statement comes soon after Adani group emphasised that its chairman and his aides have not been charged under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act but faced three other charges, including securities and wire fraud that are punishable with monetary fines.

About The US Department Of Justice’s Indictment Filed In New York Court

The US Department of Justice’s (US DoJ) indictment filed in a New York Court last week does not mention Gautam Adani, founder chairman of the ports-to-energy conglomerate, his nephew Sagar or Vneet Jaain in any count related to conspiracy to violate the FCPA, AGEL – the firm at the heart of allegation of USD 265 million bribes allegedly being paid to Indian officials to secure solar power sale contracts that could benefit bring in USD 2 billion of profits over 20 year period to the firm, had said in a filing to the stock exchange.

The three, who are executives at AGEL, have only been charged with securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and securities fraud, the company said. In general, the penalties for such charges are less severe than bribery.

Gautam and Sagar also face a civil complaint over violation of sections of the Securities Act and aiding and abetting Adani Green to violate the Act, the company had said.

Adani Group last week denied all allegations as baseless and said it would seek legal recourse to defend itself.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority Expresses Its Confidence In Its Partnership With Adani

Meanwhile, other international partners have also expressed their continued support. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority has expressed its ongoing confidence in its partnership with Adani, as the Indian group plays a vital role in expanding the country’s port infrastructure.

With USD 1 billion investment in the Colombo terminal, the project is poised to be the largest foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka’s port sector.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority chairman Admiral Sirimewan Ranasinghe (Retd) has reportedly stated that there are no discussions regarding the project’s cancellation. The project will be operational in the next couple of months.

Tanzanian Govt Reaffirms Its Commitment

Also, the Tanzanian government has reaffirmed its commitment to its agreements with Adani Ports, as it feels that there are no concerns regarding the ongoing projects and that all contracts fully comply with Tanzanian law.

In May 2024, Tanzania and Adani Ports finalised a 30-year concession agreement to operate Container Terminal 2 at Dar es Salaam port.

Additionally, Adani Ports acquired a 95 per cent stake in Tanzania International Container Terminal Services, a state-owned entity, for USD 95 million.

The marquee indices closed with monumental gains as Dalal Street recovered with some requisite optimism ahead of the Maharashtra state election results on November 23.

Indian Markets Close With Bumper Gains

On Friday, November 22, the marquee indices closed with monumental gains, as Dalal Street recovered with some requisite optimism ahead of the Maharashtra state election results on November 23.

The BSE Sensex closed for the day’s proceeding with some big numbers. The oldest index in Asia closed with gains of a colossal 1961.32 points or 2.54 per cent. This took the overall value of the index to 79,117.11.

The situation was equally euphoric at the National Stock Exchange. The NSE Nifty closed at 23,830.90, having gained 481.00 points or 2.06 per cent.

In addition, the Nifty Bank index also made gains of over 1.5 per cent. Thebanking index closed with gains of 858.50 points or 1.70 per cent, pushing it beyond the coveted 50K mark, propelling it to 51,231.40.

Gainers and Losers

The days went exceedingly well for most listed companies, the day closed with a green wall. At the BSE end, SBI, Titan and TCS were the biggest gainers with all of the said companies gaining over 4 per cent.

ITC, L&T, Infosys and Reliance also made major gains in excess of 3 per cent by the end of day.

This comes after days, nearly a two-week long period of decline, that marred the market, pushing Sensex below its 80K mark, and Nifty, much below its 25K mark.

It remains to be seen, whether the much discussed market correction that brought about bringing the indices to their actual value, has come to an end or whether sea of red will continue in the time to come.

In addition, it also remains to be seen, whether, the election results for teh critical state of Maharahstra would have an effect on the market, in the next trading week.

Asian Markets

The Asian markets also flourished green with great momentum, as these indices closed on a positive note as well.

Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.68 per cent or 257.68 points, moving towards the 40K mark, closing at 38,283.85.

Another Tokyo-based index, TOPIX, closed at 2,696.53, gaining by 0.51 per cent or 13.72 points.

As we move to China, the story was a lot different, as, contrary to the Indian and Japanese markets, the Chinese markets closed in red.

Hang Seng closed with significant losses in its numbers, closing with a massive fall of 1.89 per cent or 371.14 points, at 19,229.97.

The loss was even greater in mainland China, as the Shanghai-based SSE Composite also ended the day’s trade with deep cuts. The index crumbled by 3.06 per cent or 103.21 points of its value and closed at 3,267.19.

South Korea’s KOSPI was in tandem with other market as closed with some good news. KOSPI closed with an increase of 0.83 per cent or 20.61 points, closing for the day at 2,501.24.

The Adani Group, which has been at the eye of the storm since the beginning of the new day, has issued a statement in the US Indictment matter.

Adani Denies Charges

The company, in a statement procured by the conglomerate-owned IANS, said, “The allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of Adani Green are baseless and denied.”

Furthermore, the statement asserted its stance and added, “As stated by the US Department of Justice itself, “the charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.” All possible legal recourse will be sought.”

Committed to Highest Standards

The Adani Group further added that it has always upheld and is steadfastly committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance, transparency and regulatory compliance across all jurisdictions of its operations.

US Court Indicts Adani and Co.

The company, in an attempt to assuage stakeholders, partners and employees, said that the company is a law-abiding organisation, fully compliant with all laws.

The storm was kicked off by a post from short-seller group Hindenburg, which shared the news of the US Federal Court’s indictment of Gautam Adani and seven others associated with the company.

Billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged by US prosecutors for allegedly being part of a scheme to pay over USD 250 million (about Rs 2,100 crore) bribe to Indian officials in exchange of favourable terms for solar power contracts.

The press release from the US court elaborated on the allegations and claimed that the company and its leadership had indulged in mass bribery activity, in which the company bribed Indian officials to bag a contract for its Adani Green Energy company.

This in turn led to misleading American investors and global financial investors.

The court reportedly also issued an arrest warrant against Gautam Adani and seven others.

Adani Shares Tank

In the aftermath of the report, Adani Group company shares tanked at Dalal Street. With Adani Enterprises shares hitting the lower circuit, losing 20 per cent of their value. The situation was the same with the other Adani stocks, including Adani Green Energy, which is in the middle of the new storm.