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Indian ports-to-power billionaire Gautam Adani has settled a six-year-old case with India's market regulator over ownership rules at his listed companies, paying 14.8 million rupees ($154,000) to close one of the longest-running probes hanging over his conglomerate.
Adani, several members of his family, four group companies and their directors settled with the Securities and Exchange Board of India without admitting or denying its findings, according to an order dated Sept. 28. The companies are Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone and Adani Energy Solutions.
The probe began in 2020 after complaints that global portfolio investors may have been used to get around Indian rules that cap a founder's stake in a listed company at 75 . SEBI issued a show-cause notice in September 2024.
The settlement amount is modest next to the scale of the group. It is less than 0.02% of the $1 billion Adani's airport unit agreed to raise from global investors earlier this month, and a fraction of the $275 million Adani Enterprises paid the US Treasury Department in May over sanctions violations linked to Iranian liquefied petroleum gas.
The case carried weight beyond its size. Hindenburg Research, the now-closed US short seller, cited the probe in its January 2023 report accusing the group of corporate malpractice. Hindenburg and other market participants alleged that the founders held stakes above legal limits, helping fuel a sharp rally in Adani shares between 2013 and 2022. The Adani Group has consistently denied wrongdoing.
In a separate 81-page final order, SEBI member Kamlesh C. Varshney found no evidence that Vinod Adani, Gautam Adani's brother, controlled the foreign companies at the center of the allegations. The order cleared 12 entities, including several overseas firms, of breaching shareholding rules or unfair trading.
SEBI fined two businessmen, Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli of the United Arab Emirates and Chang Chung-Ling of Taiwan, 2 million rupees ($20,800) each for failing to provide correct and complete information. Both have long-standing links to the group.
The settlement comes a week after other Adani companies settled probes stemming from Hindenburg's report. Earlier this year the US Justice Department dropped criminal charges against Adani and his nephew over solar-energy contracts in India.
With fewer cases outstanding, Adani is drawing fresh foreign capital into data centers, airports and other infrastructure. The airport unit's raise, from investors including Temasek Holdings, BlackRock-managed funds, Premji Invest and Alpha Wave Global, values that business at about $18 billion.
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