State-owned insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India seems to have taken advantage of the rout in Adani group stocks in the aftermath of the US short-seller Hindenburg Research's report, which alleged stock manipulation while flagging debt as well as governance issues. The power-to-port conglomerate has denied the charges.
LIC raised its holdings in four Adani firms marginally but retail investors seem to have gone big on eight Adani entities, the shareholding data for the March quarter shows.
LIC's Adani exposure
The insurance giant's highest increase in holdings among the Adani firms was observed in Adani Green Energy and Adani Total Gas followed by Adani Enterprises and Adani Transmission.
According to the exchange filings, LIC's shareholding in Adani Green Energy rose from 1.28 percent to 1.36 percent and in Adani Total Gas from 5.96 percent to 6.02 percent by the end of March.
LIC's stake in the group flagship Adani Enterprises has gone up to 4.26 percent at the end of the March quarter from 4.23 percent in the previous quarter after the life insurer acquired 357,500 shares.
LIC, however, marginally reduced stakes in Adani Ports and Ambuja Cements.
Retail investors increase stakes
Retail investors also increased their holdings in eight of the ten Adani group companies during in the last quarter of the financial year 2023-24.
Adani Enterprises saw a sharp increase in retail investor shareholding from 1.86 percent in December 2022 to 3.41 percent in March 2023. Adani Ports also witnessed a rise in retail investor shareholding from 2.86 percent to 4.10 percent during the same period.
Retail investors also showed a keen interest in Adani Green Energy, as their shareholding went up from 1.06 percent to 2.33 percent. Similarly, Adani Transmission saw a rise from 0.77 percent to 1.36 percent.
NDTV, which was recently acquired by Adani, too, saw a huge rise among retail investors, with their shareholding growing from 14.11 percent to 17.54 percent. Ambuja Cements also saw an increase in retail investor shareholding from 5.52 percent to 7.23 percent.
The relentless decline in the share prices of Adani-affiliated companies resulted in their collective market valuation plummeting to under Rs 7 lakh crore.
However, this downward trend was reversed when the US-based investment firm, GQG Partners, acquired a minority stake worth Rs 15,450 crore in four of these companies.
Also Read | Meet GQG Partners, a global investor that bets $1.87 billion on beleaguered Adani Group
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