INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch4 min read Last Updated : Aug 12 2024 | 12:08 AM IST
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)
and its chairperson, Madhabi Puri Buch, on Sunday rebutted fresh allegations made by New York-headquartered Hindenburg Research in the Adani
and her husband, Dhaval, were conflicted parties because they had invested in a fund that was allegedly used to inflate stock prices of the
Adani group.
Besides raising eyebrows over the use of a foreign fund structure, the US short-seller also accused the Indian securities
investor in the domestic realty space.
Both Sebi and the Buchs issued separate statements rebutting all the allegations, terming them
However, the Sebi chairperson faced criticism from certain political parties, which called for a joint parliamentary committee to probe the
Mauritius-based segregated fund under the Global Dynamic Opportunities Fund (GDOF) managed by IIFL Wealth (now 360-One)
The Buchs and
360-One clarified the fund, accused of having links to the Adani group, had never invested in any Adani securities throughout its tenure
couple stated their investment, which dates back to a time when they were residing in Singapore, was because Chief Investment Officer Anil
They soon redeemed after Ahuja quit in 2018.
Responding to the allegations that Sebi was favouring REITs, the couple stated that Dhaval had
no association with the real-estate side of Blackstone and was associated with private equity PE and other companies, given his expertise in
Sebi.
The market watchdog in its statement said the regulatory decisions around REITs were not favourable to only one player and the
decisions were taken after public consultation with board approval.
On the allegations that Sebi had not taken any action against the Adani
group due to conflict of interest, the regulator stated that 23 out of 24 investigations in the Adani-Hindenburg matter were completed and
one is close to completion
Sebi said enforcement proceedings were cumbersome, involving issuing show-cause notices, providing personal hearing, which then culminates
in an order.
On June 26, Sebi had slapped show-cause notices (SCNs) on Hindenburg Research, its founder Nathan Anderson, hedge fund Kingdon
Capital, and three others
In the notice, the regulator had alleged Hindenburg had made misleading disclosures as a scheme to make a profit of Rs 183 crore from
short-selling to client Kingdon Capital, with which it had shared its report before making it public
Hindenburg and Kingdon had entered into a 25 per cent profit-sharing pact.
The domestic securities regulator had given 21 days to submit
It is unfortunate that instead of replying to the notice, they have chosen to attack the credibility of the Sebi and attempt character
market cap from Rs 19.2 trillion to below Rs 7 trillion
The group has now recouped all the losses and trades above the levels seen before the publication of the initial Hindenburg report in
reject these allegations against the Adani Group which are a recycling of discredited claims that have been thoroughly investigated, proven
