Key sentence:
- The three accounts were frozen for the first time on Monday.
- Adani Ports’ stock closed the day down 8.5 per cent after plunging as high as 19 per cent.
Despite denying media allegations that accounts of three foreign investment funds that own stocks had been locked, shares in companies controlled by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani lost more than $6 billion on Monday.
Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the Adani Group, fell 6.3 per cent after dropping as much as 25 per cent, its worst drop in over a decade.
According to a storey in India’s Economic Times, the three accounts were frozen for the first time on Monday.
In identical statements released to stock exchanges, the Adani Group entities concerned refuted claims of the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) suspending the money’ accounts as “blatantly erroneous.”
The accounts of Albula Investment Fund, Cresta Fund, and APMS Investment Fund had been blocked as of May 31, according to the NSDL website, with no explanation given.
Also read: Akshay-Kumar-marks-the-25th-anniversary-of-Khiladiyon-Ka-Khiladi.
The Adani companies said they got an e-mail from the “Registrar and Transfer Agent” on June 14 stating that “the Demat Account in which the funds mentioned above hold the company’s shares were not frozen.”
Requests for comment from the NSDL and India’s securities regulator, SEBI, were not immediately returned.
However, a senior NSDL official claimed the depository had blocked accounts of funds that hold certain other securities, not Adani firm shares, and that the freeze was “not new.”
“In most cases, foreign portfolio investors have only one account. They can, however, have several accounts in specific circumstances.
In this situation, the funds are spread across multiple accounts. “Because he wasn’t authorised to speak publicly about the matter, the official spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The funds could not be reached for comment by Reuters.
Adani Ports’ stock closed the day down 8.5 per cent after plunging as high as 19 per cent.
Adani Green Energy recovered most of its losses to finish slightly lower, but Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission, and Adani Power lost 5%.
As of March 31, 2020, the three funds were among the top 12 investors, with shares in five Adani Group firms ranging from 2.1 per cent to 8.91 per cent, according to annual investor presentations.
Adani Enterprises’ stock has grown more than tenfold in the past year, resulting in Adani becoming Asia’s second richest man, behind Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, which owns the oil-to-telecom complex.
