Adani stocks: GQG searching for buyers for stake sale? What you need to know

Days after Adani Energy Solutions Ltd indicated that investor GQG Partners had trimmed its stake in the company to 3.46 per cent in the ongoing quarter, a post on X claimed that GQG was looking for bulk buyers for its Adani holdings, citing redemption pressure due to recent portfolio underperformance. Business Today could not independently verify the post, which had garnered 16,000 views so far.

Rajiv Jain's GQG, which has stakes in at least five Adani group firms namely, Adani Power Ltd, Adani Enterprises Ltd, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, Adani Green Energy Ltd and Adani Energy Solutions Ltd, has been an Adani group investor since the Hindenburg episode that triggered $150 billion rout in the group stocks. That said, his GQG trimmed stakes in several Adani group firms in the June quarter.

To recall, GQG's recent quarterly results, as UBS on August 21 noted, was less about the numbers and more about how GQG's positioning has evolved in recent months.

UBS noted that GQG's recent performance was impacted by its underweight exposure to AI beneficiaries and its publicly cautious stance on the sustainability of the AI investment cycle that in its term was "Dotcom on Steroids".

"However, management acknowledged that one of its key misjudgements was underestimating the durability of compute demand, with GPU rental markets, reseller pricing and broader AI infrastructure demand all strengthening through 2026. As a result, GQG is now overweight Technology and Semiconductors across virtually all strategies, while reducing exposure to Utilities, Staples and Healthcare. This meaningfully reduces the risk that GQG behaves as a low-beta market hedge should AI-related earnings momentum continue," UBS said on August 21.

The fresh post on X read: "GQG hunting bulk buyers for Adani stake after massive redemption pressure."

To be sure, many Adani stocks are rated 'Buy' by brokerages. Adani Enterprises' 12-month Bloomberg consensus target at Rs 3,773 suggested a 28.9 per cent potential upside. Adani Power's 12-month target at Rs 252 suggests 23 per cent potential upside. At 1570.45, Adani Green's Street target hinted at 21 per cent potential upside. Adani Energy's consensus target of 1783 suggests 28 per cent upside while Adani Ports, which is tracked by 26 analysts, has a consensus target of Rs 2,016, suggesting 18.5 per cent upside. This is even as the stocks have rallied up to 84 per cent in the past 12 months.

UBS on August 21 noted that outflow headwinds for GQG were likely to persist in the near term, but increasingly reflect legacy performance rather than GQG's then prevailing portfolio positioning.