Adani hires US legal powerhouse Wachtell to take on Hindenberg
Published: 02:02 PM,Feb 10,2023 | EDITED : 06:02 PM,Feb 10,2023
Gautam Adani has seen his fortune drop by more than 50% since Hindenburg’s allegations became public in the last week of January. -- Reuters
MUMBAI: Indian business tycoon Gautam Adani-led conglomerate has hired US legal firm Wachtell in short-seller battle against US-based Hindenburg Research, reported Financial Times. The law firm is renowned for its tenacity in battling complex corporate cases and is considered one of the most expensive law firms in the US.
The corporate empire of Gautam Adani, once the world’s second-richest person, has been thrown into a tailspin after the Hindenburg Research report on alleged malpractices. Ten Adani group companies including Adani Total Gas, Adani Enterprises, Adani Transmission and Adani Ports at one point erased $117 billion from their combined market values in the selloff, forcing the tycoon to top up his share pledges for loans.
“In recent days, the Adani Group has tapped senior lawyers at New York’s Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz to advise it on how to stem the crisis facing the Indian conglomerate since Hindenburg accused it of accounting fraud and stock market manipulation in late January,' the FT report said quoting four sources.
The Adani group reached out to the US-based law firm, Wachtell, through its legal partner fiirm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.
“Wachtell will predominantly focus on co-ordinating legal, regulatory and public relations for the group, whose market value has collapsed by more than $100 billlion since Hindenburg published its paper alleging fraud,' said the FT report.
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz also represented Elon Musk for the $44-billion dollar takeover of Twitter.
FREE-FLOAT STATUS
Index provider MSCI said it has cut the free-float designations of four securities of Adani group, a move which analysts have warned could impact their index weightings.
MSCI said in a statement it has reduced the free floats of Adani Enterprises, Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission and ACC.
The remaining companies' free floats will remain the same.
The four companies for which the free float designation change was announced had a combined 0.4% weighting in the MSCI emerging markets index as of Jan 30. The changes come into effect on March 1.
Analysts had said a change in free float status could affect the weightings of MSCI index constituents, possibly triggering a shift by funds as many investments are aligned to such indexes.
MOODY'S CHANGES OUTLOOK
In another development, ratings agency Moody's said on Friday that it changed its outlook to 'negative' from 'stable' on four Adani Group firms-Adani Green Energy Ltd, Adani Green Energy Restricted Group, Adani Transmission Step-One Ltd and Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd. -- Reuters
The corporate empire of Gautam Adani, once the world’s second-richest person, has been thrown into a tailspin after the Hindenburg Research report on alleged malpractices. Ten Adani group companies including Adani Total Gas, Adani Enterprises, Adani Transmission and Adani Ports at one point erased $117 billion from their combined market values in the selloff, forcing the tycoon to top up his share pledges for loans.
“In recent days, the Adani Group has tapped senior lawyers at New York’s Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz to advise it on how to stem the crisis facing the Indian conglomerate since Hindenburg accused it of accounting fraud and stock market manipulation in late January,' the FT report said quoting four sources.
The Adani group reached out to the US-based law firm, Wachtell, through its legal partner fiirm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.
“Wachtell will predominantly focus on co-ordinating legal, regulatory and public relations for the group, whose market value has collapsed by more than $100 billlion since Hindenburg published its paper alleging fraud,' said the FT report.
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz also represented Elon Musk for the $44-billion dollar takeover of Twitter.
FREE-FLOAT STATUS
Index provider MSCI said it has cut the free-float designations of four securities of Adani group, a move which analysts have warned could impact their index weightings.
MSCI said in a statement it has reduced the free floats of Adani Enterprises, Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission and ACC.
The remaining companies' free floats will remain the same.
The four companies for which the free float designation change was announced had a combined 0.4% weighting in the MSCI emerging markets index as of Jan 30. The changes come into effect on March 1.
Analysts had said a change in free float status could affect the weightings of MSCI index constituents, possibly triggering a shift by funds as many investments are aligned to such indexes.
MOODY'S CHANGES OUTLOOK
In another development, ratings agency Moody's said on Friday that it changed its outlook to 'negative' from 'stable' on four Adani Group firms-Adani Green Energy Ltd, Adani Green Energy Restricted Group, Adani Transmission Step-One Ltd and Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd. -- Reuters