18 months after Hindenburg accused Adani of stock manipulation, the short-seller has now trained its eyes on market the regulator’s chief Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch
Dhaval Buch and his wife, SEBI’s chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch are being accused by Hindenburg Research to have been involved in Adani Group’s offshore funds scandal. In January 2023 Hindenburg released a report titled, “The largest con in corporate history”. The Adani Group was reportedly accused of stock manipulation and financial misconduct. In its recent report it has tried to link the market watchdog’s chairperson and her husband.
“... the current SEBI chairperson and her husband, Dhaval Buch, had hidden stakes in the exact same obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds, found in the same complex nested structure, used by Vinod Adani,” said the US-based short-seller in its recent report.
Who is Dhaval Buch? Know his journey from being an IITian to climbing corporate ladder
Dhaval Buch holds a mechanical engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Buch with a career span of nearly 35 years has worked with global consumer giant Unilever both domestically and globally. He advanced in his career and went on to occupy high-ranking role of Chief Procurement Officer at the company.
He lived in London and Singapore from 2010 to 2019 while working for Unilever. Between 2011 to March 2017, his wife Madhavi Buch too worked in Singapore initially as an employee of a private equity firm and later as a consultant. Additionally, between 2015-2019, Dhaval made his first investment in Adani offshore funds.
Consequently, after retiring from Unilever in 2019, Dhaval began his consultancy practice and the years of experience he amassed in supply chain helped him work with prominent clients in the Indian industry.
Along with that in 2019 Dhaval was appointed as a senior advisor to Blackstone Private Equity as per a statement released by the couple on August 11. Hindenburg’s has accused Dhaval’s association with Blackstone influenced Madhabi decision as SEBI’s chairperson to make regulatory changes in favour of private equity firms.
Currently, he serves as a senior advisor at Blacktone and at Alvarez & Marsal. Along with this he holds the position of a non-executive director on the Board of Gildan.