Gautam Adani’s company shares fall after he was indicted on bribery charges in the US

• The Indian stock market fell after Gautam Adani was accused of bribery by the US.

• Adani and executives allegedly paid $250 million in bribes for solar contracts.

• One CIO told Bloomberg TV that the allegations “damaged sentiment” in Indian markets.

India’s stock market opened lower on Thursday after one of the country’s richest men was charged by US prosecutors with involvement in a massive bribery scheme.

On Wednesday, the New York prosecutor’s office brought charges against the billionaire Gautam Adanione of the richest people in India. They alleged that the tycoon and seven of his senior executives paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to the Indian government and hid them from American investors.

In the indictment, prosecutors said Adani and his executives promised bribes worth more than $250 million to win solar contracts from the Indian government between 2020 and 2024.

The charges led to a sharp sell-off in pre-opening trading and hit domestic markets during opening hours.

Shares of the group’s companies, including flagship Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd., fell 20% in less than two hours of trading on Thursday.

Following the news, Adani Green Energy canceled plans to raise $600 million in US dollar-denominated bonds, the company said in a statement to the European Commission. National Stock Exchange of India.

The latest blow to Adani’s businesses came almost two years after he moved to New York Hindenburg’s research in a January 2023 report, he targeted the Adani Group, which at one point was almost destroyed Market value $150 billion from related companies.

Adani’s stocks largely rebounded after the report but came under pressure after the report Bharatiya Janata Party – led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi – lost its majority in the lower house of the Indian parliament. Adani, a Modi ally, is worth nearly $86 billion, making him the 18th richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg. billionaires index.

Stefanie Holtze-Jen, chief investment officer for Asia-Pacific at Deutsche International Private Bank, told Bloomberg TV on Thursday that the market reaction was not surprising.

“This was to be expected considering this news was in the spotlight today. I think this has already worsened the mood in the region,” she said.

A benchmark for India Sensex at 11:03 local time it was 0.7% lower. Nifty 50 fell 0.8%.

Adani representatives did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment on the allegations on Wednesday.

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