Adani group firms shed $12.5 billion market cap after SEC seeks court nod to serve summonses

By Urvi Dugar

Jan 23 (Reuters) – India’s Adani group firms shed $12.5 billion in market cap on Friday, after a U.S. markets regulator asked a court for help in serving summonses upon founder Gautam Adani and group executive Sagar Adani over alleged fraud and a $265 million bribery scheme.

Reuters reported the procedural request from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in the regulator’s civil case against the Adanis, on Thursday after the Indian markets closed. 

On Friday, the group’s flagship company, Adani Enterprises, was the top percentage loser on India’s benchmark Nifty 50. While the firm’s shares fell 10.65% to 1,864.2 rupees, the Nifty declined 0.95% at close. 

Group shares settled down between 3.4% and 14.54%. 

U.S. authorities in November 2024 accused Adani group executives of being part of a scheme to pay bribes to Indian officials for buying electricity produced by Adani Green Energy, a unit of the Adani group. 

The SEC’s civil case against Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani is separate from the U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal indictment against the Adanis and several other defendants. The Justice Department case remains open, court records show.

U.S. law prohibits foreign companies that raise money from American investors from paying bribes overseas to secure business, and it also bars them from soliciting investment on the basis of false or misleading statements. 

Serving a summons is often routine, but the SEC said India’s government had refused two requests to have its summonses served on the Adanis. 

The regulator asked a judge to instead let it serve the summonses on the Adanis’ U.S.-based lawyers, and email copies to the Adanis. 

U.S. civil procedural rules allow this method of service, the SEC said. “Given defendants’ actual knowledge of this litigation — demonstrated by public statements, regulatory filings, and retention of U.S. counsel — email service to their business addresses will provide effective notice,” the SEC added. 

Adani group has called the allegations “baseless” and said that it would seek “all possible legal recourse” to defend itself. In statements to Indian stock exchanges late on Friday, group firms referred to the same response from November 2024. Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports, Adani Total Gas and Adani Enterprises added that the companies are not party to the proceedings and that no allegations or charges have been made against them.

“Market participants assumed there’s nothing pending and that the group has been cleared, so the SEC filing seems (to have come) out of the blue,” said Ambareesh Baliga, an independent market analyst.

With no clear timeline for the next steps, Baliga said he expects the issue could linger for at least another fortnight, noting that overall market sentiment was already weak.

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Noeleen Walder and Daniel Wallis)