NEW DELHI: A week after buying shares worth over Rs 15,000 crore in four Adani companies, US-based boutique investment company GQG Partners’ founder Rajiv Jain on Wednesday said the company is looking at increasing its investment in the Gautam Adani-led conglomerate.
“Chances are we’ll probably buy more because we typically initiate a position and then depending on how things go and how the earnings come through, we tend to get it to full size because we’re not at full size at this point,” Jain said during a call with reporters in Sydney.
Jain, who is based in Florida, flew to Australia this week for talks with investors, which include some of Australia’s largest pension funds. A GQG spokesperson said Jain’s trip had been planned for some time and the discussions included topics other than Adani.
“The response actually has been, frankly, more positive than I would have anticipated because they feel that’s how we differentiate ourselves,” Jain said when asked about clients’ response to the Adani deal.
Jain’s announcement comes amid reports that Adani group is gearing up to hold a worldwide roadshow this month in London, Dubai and several US cities to reassure investors about the company’s finances.
On March 2, GQG Partners in a series of secondary block trade transactions bought shares worth Rs 15,446 crore (USD1.87 billion) in Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises. This was the first major investment in the Adani group since the US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research’s scathing report triggered a stock rout, wiping Rs 12 lakh crore from the conglomerate’s market capitalisation. Hindenburg accused Adani of stock price manipulation by offshore tax havens. The group has denied all the allegations.
GQG Partners has high exposure in the Indian market and holds significant stakes in heavyweights such as ITC, HDFC, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, and State Bank of India. Its big-ticket investment in Adani group firms’ shares has surprised market experts given the fund’s historical investment in fairly valued companies against Adani’s ‘expensive’ stocks.
A research analyst with a brokerage firm, who did not wish to be named, said that out of the 10 listed Adani stocks, three won’t reach their pre-January 24 levels anytime soon.
Adani stocks back in the game
1Shares of most Adani stocks gained on Wednesday
2The market boost is after the Adani group said it has prepaid share-backed financing worth C7,374 crore, two years ahead of schedule
3That NSE and BSE decided to move the flagship Adani Enterprises out from the short-term additional surveillance measure framework also helped