Bill Ackman Lauds Hindenburg's Scathing Report On India's Adani As 'Highly Credible' — But Adds This Caveat

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman was all praise for U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research’s report on Indian conglomerate Adani Group, calling it "highly credible" and "extremely well researched."

Hindenburg’s report on Wednesday accused the conglomerate of improper use of offshore tax havens and stated it held short positions in the company via its U.S.-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivative instruments.

Adani’s response to @HindenburgRes is the same as @Herbalife’s response to our original 350-page presentation. Herbalife remains a pyramid scheme. I found the Hindenburg report highly credible and extremely well researched. @AdaniOnline response speaks volumes. Caveat emptor. https://t.co/og6DLbPzp5

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) January 27, 2023

Also Read: Adani Enterprises FPO Opens Amid Short-Seller-Related Bloodbath At Share Market

The short seller pointed out that Gautam Adani's net worth of roughly $120 billion — in which $100 billion was added in the past three years — was largely through stock price appreciation in the conglomerate's seven key listed companies, which have spiked an average of 819% over the period.

Price Action: Shares in the seven listed companies lost a total of $10.73 billion in market capitalization in India on Wednesday after the report, Reuters said. 

Indian markets were closed on Thursday for Republic Day. However, Adani stocks continued their plunge on Friday, falling between 5% and 19.45%, at the time of writing.

Ackman did give a disclaimer saying not to consider his tweet as investment advice.

“We are not invested long or short in any of the Adani companies or Herbalife, nor have we done our own independent research. You should not consider this tweet investment advice, just my judgment based on the @HindenburgRes report and the Adani response,” he tweeted.

The Adani Group said that it is exploring legal options against Hindenburg, adding that the allegations have led to “unwanted anguish for Indian citizens.”
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