Gautam Adani, the Indian billionaire, has lost his position as Asia’s richest person, as his empire suffers a major setback as a result of ‘Corporate Con’ allegations.
According to Forbes, Adani lost his position on Wednesday as shares of his publicly traded companies fell further as his empire battles allegations of serious fraud leveled by the U.S.-based short-seller Hindenburg Research.
According to Forbes, Adani’s net worth had dropped by another $13 billion as of Wednesday afternoon in India, dropping him to 15th on the list of the world’s richest people after starting the day in eighth place.
Mukesh Ambani of India, whose estimated net worth is $83.8 billion, has reportedly moved to ninth place on the list, surpassing Adani to become Asia’s richest person.
Ambani is the chairperson of the conglomerate Reliance Industries, which has interests in petrochemicals, oil, gas, telecom, and retail.
According to Forbes, despite the fact that its follow-on public offering was fully subscribed on Tuesday, with support from Middle Eastern institutional investors, the Adani Group’s flagship, Adani Enterprises, fell by 28.2 percent on Wednesday.
Adani Ports, Adani Wilmar, Adani Power, Adani Transmission, Adani Green Energy, and Adani Total Gas were among the six major listed companies in the conglomerate.
At the time of publication, Forbes estimated Adani’s net worth to be $75.1 billion, a $13 billion decrease from the previous day.
According to reports, Adani’s fortune has shrunk by more than $50 billion since Hindenburg Research made its allegations public last week, dropping him from third place on our list of the world’s richest.
According to reports, despite the fact that both Ambani and Adani are at the helm of massive conglomerates with disparate interests, the billionaires have avoided a direct clash for years. While Ambani’s Reliance has grown into a telecom, media, and retail behemoth, Adani has primarily focused on infrastructure, transportation, and energy distribution.
Over the past few years, however, both have tried to pivot toward green energy, raising the possibility of a market overlap in which they may be forced to compete with each other.
Last week, Hindenburg disclosed a short position against Adani Group’s listed companies and published a report accusing the company of engaging in “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.”
The Adani Group has vehemently denied the allegations, calling them “maliciously mischievous [and] unresearched,” and has threatened legal action. In a 413-page rebuttal of Hindenburg’s allegations, the company labelled them as not “merely an unwarranted attack on any specific company but a calculated attack on India” and its growth story.
Hindenburg, however, dismissed the statement accusing the Adani Group of draping itself in the Indian flag “while systematically looting the nation.”