He was dropped off the global rich list on allegations of accounting fraud and stock manipulation late last January. By December, Gautam Adani returned as the second wealthiest Indian, thanks to a stellar run in the Adani Group stocks, which also paid off for the man who had kept his faith in the group undeterred with 82 percent return on investment for Rajiv Jain of GQG Partners.
Jain’s GQG Partners had nearly doubled its investments in the Adani shares in less than a year. As per Prime Database data, GQG’s portfolio value in Adani Group companies surged to Rs 39,331 crore, assessed from the closing share prices on December 6. This is a total return of 82 percent on its Rs 21,660 crore investment in diverse Adani Group companies made in three tranches during the year starting March 2023.
The surge was propelled by investments in Adani Enterprises Ltd, Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports and SEZ, and Adani Power, nearly doubling their value following the recent stock price surge.
GQG invested Rs 3403 crore in Adani Enterprises, now valued at Rs 9,024 crore. Adani Green Energy’s initial investment of Rs 4,743 crore increased to Rs 8,800 crore. For Adani Ports, GQG’s investment of Rs 4,472 crore surged to Rs 7,766 crore, while Adani Power’s investment by GQG rose from Rs 4,245 crore to Rs 8,718 crore.
On March 2, Rajiv Jain-led GQG Partners invested Rs 11,849 crore in four Adani Group companies – Adani Energy Solutions, Adani Enterprises Ltd, Adani Green Energy and Adani Ports SEZ.
In June, the company invested around Rs 2,776 crore in Adani Energy Solutions and Adani Green Energy Ltd. Adani Power promoters sold 15.21 crore shares to GQG in a Rs 4,245-crore deal on August 16 and since then the Adani Power shares zoomed 90 percent, driving up the total GQG investment to almost Rs 8,858 crore. As of September 2023 quarter, GQG investment in Ambuja Cements stood at Rs 1,520 crore.
The Adani Group stocks have been on a tear since November 24, elevating its market cap by nearly Rs 4.5 lakh crore to reach Rs 14.8 lakh crore. A sustained bull run in the market, a Supreme Court decision to not order a probe into the group based on the charges levelled by a US short-seller, a sweeping election victory of the BJP in Hindi heartland, and a US agency calling the Hindenburg allegations of accounting fraud and stock manipulation “irrelevant” – all these translated into the rally and rebuilding of investor confidence in the group.
The surge In Adani Group stocks boosted Chairman Gautam Adani’s wealth by over $10 billion, reaching a fortune exceeding $70 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. This propelled him to the 15th position in the global rich list.
The US International Development Finance Corporation recently invested $553 million in Adani Ports’ Colombo project. The US government dismissed as baseless the accusations by Hindenburg Research against Adani Group, according to Bloomberg report.
On November 24, the Supreme Court reserved its judgment on Sebi lawsuits related to Hindenburg’s claims; cautioned against blindly accepting them. Adani Group reiterated that the report distorted facts to craft a misleading story.