It was us today, it could be someone else tomorrow: Gautam Adani on Hindenburg episode

A year after US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of fraud and stock price manipulation in a bombshell report, allegations the conglomerate denies, Gautam Adani wrote in the Times of India that the group had emerged stronger on some measures of business fundamentals.

Calling it a  "devious attack", Adani said he felt compelled to share his learnings because, "it was us today, it could be someone else tomorrow."

Fallout from Hindenburg’s report still lingers. While Adani stocks have risen more than $90 billion from last year’s low, they remain about $60 billion short of their pre-Hindenburg peak.

Adani paid down debt, refinanced loans and won $5 billion in equity investments to fend off the the Hindenburg bombshell. Adani has repeatedly denied the short-seller's claims, and a large majority of the group’s 15 dollar bonds now trade above distressed levels.

"Lies and baseless allegations against us were nothing new. So, after issuing a comprehensive response, I thought no more about it," he wrote. Adani called the Hindenburg allegations a "two-dimensional attack" that played out in political space, "each feeding off the other."

"Had our detractors' plan fully succeeded, domino effects could have crippled many critical infrastructure assets, seaports and airports to power supply chains - a catastrophic situation for any country," he wrote.
 
"We couldn't fall back on a precedent to handle this situation. Our confidence in the solidity of our businesses dictated our largely contrarian strategy."

Adani reposed faith in the shareholder base. "Over this challenging year, our shareholder base expanded by 43%, reaching nearly 70 lakh."

The billionair said he was under no illusion that this was the end of such attacks. "I believe we have emerged stronger from this experience and more unwavering in our resolve to continue our humble contribution to the India growth story."