New Delhi: Goldman Sachs’ investment arm reduced its exposure to Adani Group in its ESG portfolios in the weeks following allegations of fraud against the conglomerate by short-seller Hindenburg Research, Bloomberg reported.
Goldman funds sold about 11.7 million shares in Adani companies in February, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. These funds are registered as promoting environmental, social and governance goals under European Union rules.
Of all the 13 actively managed ESG funds who scaled back their holdings in Adani, Goldman accounted for the largest sales, according to Bloomberg data.
The 13 ESG funds sold a total of 12 million Adani Group shares, the report said.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s actively managed ESG fund exposure to Adani was limited to a stake of roughly 400,000 shares in Ambuja Cements, Bloomberg reported.
Other asset managers who cut Adani from ESG funds include Northern Trust Corp and Storebrand ASA, according to Bloomberg data. The report added this data doesn’t include exchange-traded funds and is based on an analysis of the latest available filings.
Since the allegations against the conglomerate by Hindenburg Research, several funds have cut down their exposure to Adani Group and some key indexes have removed the group companies. Three Adani Group firms have also been dropped from a UN-backed list of ‘green’ companies ‘taking action’ against climate change.
Despite all these actions, Adani Group is looking to tap the Indian equity markets. On May 13, the group announced a fundraising of $2.56 billion via share sales in Adani Enterprises and Adani Transmission, Mint reported.
This also comes against the backdrop of the Securities and Exchange Board of India investigating the allegations against the Adani Group.
But the SEBI probe has led to a bizarre turn of events, where the Union government and capital markets regulator gave conflicting statements on when the latter had started probing the Adani companies.
The minister of state for finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, had in July 2021 told the Lok Sabha that SEBI was investigating the Adani Group. However, the markets regulator has told the Supreme Court that it has not probed any Adani Group firm since 2016.
The apex court has given SEBI time till August 14 to complete its investigation on the fraud allegations made against the group by Hindenburg Research.