Adani Group stocks drop up to 4% amid U.S. SEC probe; Adani Green, Adani Enterprises lead fall

Shares of billionaire Gautam Adani-led group companies witnessed selling pressure on Wednesday amid reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sought assistance from Indian authorities in its probe into the conglomerate’s alleged bribery case. Weighed down by the development, shares of Adani Enterprises and Adani Green Energy declined up to 4% in an otherwise muted broader market.

Among Adani group stocks, Adani Enterprises was the top loser with a loss of 4.3%, followed by Adani Green Energy, which declined 4.2% during the trade so far. On the other hand, Adani Ports, Adani Power, Adani Energy Solutions, Adani Total Gas and Adani Wilmar saw a correction of over 2%. The group’s cement entities ACC and Ambuja Cement were down marginally by 1%.

Meanwhile, the equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 were trading flat, swinging between gains and losses.

As per report, the U.S. SEC has informed a New York district court that it has reached out to Indian authorities for their assistance to serve its complaint to the conglomerate’s founder, Gautam Adani, and his nephew, Sagar Adani, over alleged securities fraud and a ₹2,300 crore bribery case.

In November last year, the United States Department of Justice (US DOJ) and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) have issued a "criminal indictment" and brought a civil complaint, respectively, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York against Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani.

The U.S. DOJ also included Adani Green director Vneet Jaain in the criminal indictment, alleging that they bribed Indian officials in exchange of favourable terms for solar power contracts. The allegations, especially about the alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violation in the indictment, were denied by the Adani group. However, the conglomerate had called the charges "baseless", and also pledged to take legal action.

Earlier this month, newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly signed an executive order, directing the Department of Justice to stop enforcing the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a law that was used to launch the bribery investigation against the billionaire tycoon along with his nephew Sagar and others. The law prohibits U.S. companies and foreign firms from bribing officials of foreign governments to obtain or retain business. The FCPA was at the heart of some of the U.S. Department of Justice's most high-profile cases.

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