Gautam Adani’s net worth shrinks to less than half from the peak
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the net worth of Gautam Adani stood at $71.3 billion as of Friday’s close, which is a whopping fall of $78.6 billion from the peak seen in 2022.
Even though, most stocks controlled by the conglomerate recovered from the Thursday’s selloff, four of them still ended the day in the red. After plummeting 19% in the previous session, the stock of Adani Green Energy declined another 8.2% on Friday. Similarly, shares of Adani Energy Solutions slid 7% on Friday, taking its two-day loss to 26%. Other group stocks which lost value in Friday’s trade include Adani Power and Adani Wilmar.
As of Friday’s close, the total market valuation of the group stood at $141.3 billion, down $1.3 billion from the previous day’s close. The group has witnessed a market cap erosion of $28 billion over the last two sessions.
Adani Group’s shares plunged on Thursday after billionaire Gautam Adani was charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay $265 million (about ₹2,200 crore) bribes to Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts. However, the conglomerate has denied the allegations, calling them baseless, and announced plans to seek legal recourse.
Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings on Friday lowered its outlook on three Adani Group entities to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’, citing risks to funding access following the U.S. indictment. “Adani Group’s cash flow could be materially affected if the allegations are proven” said the rating agency.
Interestingly, the latest developments happening at a time when the Adani-Hindeburg saga was nearing its end. The group stocks were almost recovering from the allegations levied by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research in January last year. The group had a peak valuation of almost $290 billion before the Hindenburg report.
(Edited by : Poonam Behura)
