US authorities accused the billionaire boss of the Indian conglomerate of a bribery and fraud conspiracy, causing shares of Adani Group firms to drop almost $28 billion in market value in early trading on Thursday.
Adani Enterprises, the main business of Gautam Adani, plunged 23%, while Adani Ports, Adani Green, Adani Power, Adani Total Gas, Adani Wilmar and Adani Energy Solutions, ACC, NDTV, and Ambuja Cements, all had declines of 20% to 90%.
The market value of the ten listed equities of the Adani group was $141 billion at 0534 GMT, down from $169.08 billion on Tuesday.
According to US investigators, Adani and seven other defendants—among them his nephew Sagar Adani—agreed to bribe Indian government officials with around $265 million in order to get contracts that would generate $2 billion in profit over the course of 20 years and build India’s largest solar power plant project.
In a statement released on Thursday, Adani Green announced that board members Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani were the subject of a criminal indictment by the US Justice Department and a civil action by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
As per the US Justice Department, Vneet Jaain, a board member of Adani Green, was also named in the criminal charge.
Due to developments, Adani Green’s divisions had opted not to move forward with the anticipated bond offers denominated in US dollars, the statement continued.
