360 One WAM says it was unaware of Trident Trust’s dealings

The recent allegations levelled by US based short seller Hindenburg Research against Sebi chairperson Mabhabi Puri Buch involved a fund whose investment manager was IIFL, while the fund’s administrator was Trident.

360 One WAM (formerly IIFL Wealth) said the company wasn’t aware of any illicit dealings involving Trident Trust Co., Mauritius, when it signed an agreement in 2013 appointing the trust as the administrator for some of its funds. The deal was signed by IIFL Asset Management (Mauritius), the investment manager for the funds.

Subsequent developments, including the release of Pandora Papers—an extensive leak of documents in October 2021 revealing hidden offshore financial dealings of the global rich—contained references to the role of the Mauritius-based fund administrator in moving funds for several wealthy individuals.

IIFL said Trident was not the sole fund administrator whose services it used in Mauritius, and payments to Trident were made as per market standards.

The comments assume significance as Trident has been under scrutiny by the Indian market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), for a while.

The recent allegations levelled by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research against Sebi chairperson Mabhabi Puri Buch involved a fund whose investment manager was IIFL, and fund administrator was Trident.

Last week, Mauritius’ market regulator, the Financial Services Commission, clarified that IPE Plus Fund and IPE Plus Fund 1, in which Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch invested in 2015, were not based out of Mauritius. This has raised questions about where the Trident-IIFL managed funds were pooled and parked.

Trident Trust was the beneficial owner of two of the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) being probed by Sebi for investments in Adani companies. Trident also had links to the offshore structure created by Vinod Adani to move money, Hindenburg alleged.

Responding to a query on the Pandora papers, a 360 One WAM spokesperson said, “We were not aware at the point of appointing Trident.”

The company also added at no point of time, Trident or representatives of Trident had any economic ownership in the IIFL managed funds.

“For funds where 360 ONE entities have been Investment Managers, neither Trident nor any other administrator has ever been an economic beneficial owner. Trident’s role has been restricted to being the administrators of the fund only, which includes fund operations & accounting, registrar & transfer agent, and providing corporate secretarial services,” 360 One WAM told Moneycontrol.

Filings by various funds managed by Trident showed the Mauritius-based firm was a beneficial owner of several FPIs it administered. Market participants said this could be because Trident exercised control by virtue of being a fund administrator.

Email sent to Sebi remained unanswered.

“Trident Trust Group is a global provider of professional corporate, fund and trust administration services and is subject to stringent client confidentiality and data protection obligations. Each of Trident’s businesses is regulated in the jurisdiction in which it operates and is fully committed to compliance with all applicable regulations. We do not discuss with the media our clients, or whether any individual or entity is a client, but cooperate fully with any competent authority which requests information.” Said a spokesperson for Trident Trust in response to a query sent by Moneycontrol.

360 One WAM also pointed out that it also worked with other fund administrators in Mauritius. “Our choice of administrator is based on comprehensive due diligence, covering their experience, operations & technology platform, client references, and commercials. Through the life of the funds, we have used the services of multiple leading global administrators, which include Apex, Trident and Sanne. All fees paid to our administrators are as per market benchmarked commercial contracts.”

Earlier this week, Adani Group dismissed the latest allegations made by Hindenburg Research. "The latest allegations by Hindenburg are malicious, mischievous and manipulative selections of publicly available information to arrive at pre-determined conclusions for personal profiteering with wanton disregard for facts and the law. We completely reject these allegations against the Adani Group which are a recycling of discredited claims that have been thoroughly investigated, proven to be baseless and already dismissed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in January 2024," it said.