Adani Group Shares Fall After Pledging Additional Shares For SBI

Shares of Adani Group companies were facing selling pressure for third day in a row after Three Adani Group companies pledged additional shares for State Bank of India, days after a scathing report by a US short-seller led to over $100 billion loss in its market value, as per stock exchange filings.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), Adani Transmission Ltd and Adani Green Energy pledged shares to SBICAP Trustee Company, a unit of India's biggest lender, SBI.

As many as 75 lakh more shares of APSEZ have been pledged, taking the total to 1 per cent of all shares with SBICAP. In the case of Adani Green, pledge of 60 lakh more shares took the total to 1.06 per cent. Pledge of 13 lakh more shares of Adani Transmission took the total to 0.55 per cent, the filings showed.

The additional pledges are part of a $300 million letter of credit - issued by a bank to another bank as a guarantee for payments made - provided by SBI for Adani Group's Carmichael coal mining project in Australia.

Adani Enterprises fell 7.6 per cent, Adcani Ports declined 6 per cent, Adani Green Energy was locked in 5 per cent lower circuit, Adani Power dropped 5 per cent, Adani Wilmar declined 5 per cent, Adani Transmission fell 5 per cent, Adani Total Gas tumbled 5 per cent, NDTV fell 5 per cent, ACC declined 3 per cent and Ambuja Cements tumbled 5 per cent.

The group has lost over $100 billion in market value since Jan. 24, when U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the conglomerate of stock manipulation and improper use of tax havens.

Meanwhile, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is probing the group's links to some of the investors in its scrapped $2.5 billion share sale of the flagship Adani Enterprises.

Moody's Investor Service on Friday revised downwards the rating outlook on four Adani Group companies to negative from stable after a significant and rapid decline in market value following a report by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research.

In a statement, Moody's said the rating outlook for Adani Green Energy Ltd, Adani Green Energy Restricted Group, Adani Transmission Step-One Ltd and Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd has been changed to negative from stable.