By Aditya Kalra
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Investment firm GQG Partners bought an 8.1% stake in India’s Adani Power for $1.1 billion via block deals on Wednesday, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Multiple GQG funds bought around 152.1 million shares, as per data from BSE, one of India’s top stock exchanges, from Worldwide Emerging Market Holding and Afro ASIA Trade And Investments.
Adani Power and GQG did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request seeking comments.
The Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based GQG has made several other investments in the Gautam Adani-led conglomerate’s companies previously.
The investment comes days after Deloitte quit as auditor for one of the conglomerate’s key business units, renewing investor concerns even as the group slowly recovers from a report by U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research, released in January.
The report, which alleged improper use of tax havens and concerns over the conglomerate’s debt levels – something it denies – wiped out nearly $147 billion from the market cap of the group’s listed entities.
Though shares of the group companies have rebounded, they are still down around $100 billion in value.
Adani Ports had said that Deloitte’s reason for quitting as its auditor was “not convincing or sufficient to warrant such a move.
Meanwhile, India’s market regulator has sought 15 more days to complete a probe into the Adani Group’s dealings with certain offshore entities.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi and Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
