All about Jo Johnson and Elara Capital, UK firm with Adani ties

Jo Johnson had joined Elara Capital in June 2022. (Image credit: www.jo-johnson.com)

Jo Johnson, younger brother of former British prime minister Boris Johnson, resigned from his post as a non-executive director of UK company Elara Capital on February 1. The UK-based investment firm has been under scrutiny over its links with the now-withdrawn Adani Enterprises Follow-on Public Offer (FPO).

He resigned from the company on the same day as the Adani Group announced the withdrawal of the FPO.

Jo Johnson: former investment banker and journalist

A member of the Conservative Party, Jo Johnson is a House of Lords peer.

He began his career as an investment banker with Deutsche Bank and later spent 13 years at the Financial Times from 1997, including as the head of the newspaper’s “Lex” column. He spent three years in New Delhi as the newspaper’s South Asia bureau chief.

He joined Elara Capital in June, “in the hope of making a contribution to UK-India trade and investment ties”. Johnson insisted he has been assured of the company's "good standing" and has stepped down due to his own lack of "domain expertise".

Johnson is a Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and a Fellow of Birkbeck College, London. He also as the title of President’s Professorial Fellow at King’s College, London, since 2020.

Elara Capital and links to Adani Group

Elara Capital describes itself as a capital markets business, raising funds for Indian corporates. It was among the bookrunners on the Adani FPO.

Elara Capital was founded by Raj Bhatt in 2002 primarily as a capital markets business, raising funds for Indian corporates through "GDRs (global depository receipt), FCCBs (foreign currency convertible bond) and the London AIM market (London stock exchange sub market).

According to The Financial Times, it is Elara's asset management business that is under the spotlight after US short seller Hindenburg Research linked Mauritius-based funds run by the London firm with Gautam Adani’s Adani Group companies.

The Adani Group has categorically denied Hindenburg’s accusations, calling them a “malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations”.

Since its first GDR issue in 2003, Elara has raised funds for several Indian corporates, the company says on its website.

Apart from London, it has offices in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, New York and Singapore.