Ahmedabad: The Adani Group, bruised and battered by a scathing report by Hindenburg Research, is ready to fight the US short-selling firm.
The Indian conglomerate, headed by Gautam Adani, has hired American law firm Wachtell to counter Hindenburg’s accusations of stock manipulation and accounting fraud against them, The Financial Times reported.
The report has quoted four people familiar with the development as saying that Adani Group has approached senior lawyers at New York’s Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to tackle the crisis they are facing after the Hindenburg report significantly eroded their cumulative market capitalization and hurt investor sentiments.
Wachtell was reportedly approached by Adani Group’s top lawyers at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, which is leading the defence of the business giants.
One of America’s most expensive law firms, Wachtell will look to enlist further advisory support for Adani Group, including from crisis communications firms, and primarily focus on coordinating legal, regulatory and public relations for the group, FT quoted sources as saying.
Wachtell is one of the most sought-after legal firms of leading US companies which have been targeted by activist investors or faced a hostile takeover.
Despite Adani Group dismissing Hindenburg’s allegations with a 413-page rebuttal and Gautam Adani trying to reassure investors in a televised message, there has been little impact on investors and global financial institutions.
Adani Group, which has 10 listed companies, has seen a massive slide in stock prices since the issue of Hindenburg report over a fortnight ago.
Around $110 billion has been wiped off from market capitalisation of top Adani Group-listed companies.
Adani Group last week withdrew a fully-subscribed follow-on public offering (FPO) of its flagship company Adani Enterprises.
