New Delhi: In a stock exchange filing on Sunday, 360 One Wam Limited, formerly known as IIFL Wealth Management Limited, said its IPE-Plus Fund 1 had made zero investments in any shares of the Adani Group -- either directly or indirectly.
This clarification from the publicly-listed financial services company comes after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research in a report levelled fresh allegations against Adani Group. This time the short seller also raised questions about investments made by SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, and her husband Dhaval Buch.
IPE-Plus Fund 1 is a fully compliant and regulated fund that was launched in October 2013 and operated until October 2019, 360 One Wam informed stock exchanges.
"Throughout the fund's tenure, IPE-Plus Fund 1 made zero investments in any shares of the Adani Group either directly or indirectly through any fund."
The fund also said that 90 per cent of its investments were in bonds and only 10 per cent in shares
"At its peak, the fund's Assets Under Management (AUM) reached approximately USD 48 million, with over 90 percent of the fund consistently invested in bonds."
The exchange filing also said that the fund was managed as a discretionary fund by the Investment Manager and that investors have no role in making investment decisions.
"No investor had any involvement in the fund's operations or investment decisions. Mrs. Madhabi Buch and Mr. Dhaval Buch's holdings in the fund were less than 1.5 per cent of the total inflow into the fund," said the financial advisory services firm in the stock filing.
It reaffirmed that all its funds are fully compliant with all applicable regulations, and "we adhere to the highest standards of corporate governance."
Earlier on Saturday, US short seller Hindenburg had alleged, "We had previously noted Adani's total confidence in continuing to operate without the risk of serious regulatory intervention, suggesting that this may be explained through Adani's relationship with SEBI Chairperson, Madhabi Buch."
"What we hadn't realized: the current SEBI Chairperson and her husband, Dhaval Buch, had hidden stakes in the exact same obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds, found in the same complex nested structure, used by Vinod Adani," the report by the US hedge firm said.
Hindenburg Research said it has made the new allegations based on documents provided by a whistleblower and investigations carried out by other entities.
Earlier in the day, hours after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research allegations SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband issued a joint statement rejecting the allegations. Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband accused Hindenburg Research, against whom SEBI has taken enforcement action, of character assassination.
In the joint statement released to the media, they said, "Our life and finances are an open book. All disclosures as required have already been furnished to SEBI over the years. We have no hesitation in disclosing any and all financial documents, including those that relate to the period when we were strictly private citizens, to any and every authority that may seek them. It is unfortunate that Hindenburg Research against whom SEBI has taken an Enforcement action and issued a show cause notice has chosen to attempt character assassination in response to the same."
In January 2023, Hindenburg published a report accusing the Adani Group of financial irregularities, leading to a significant drop in the company's stock price. The group at the time had rubbished these claims.
The Hindenburg report alleged stock manipulation and fraud by the conglomerate. The case is related to the allegations (part of a report by Hindenburg Research) that Adani had inflated its share prices.
After these allegations were published, there was a sharp fall in the shares of various Adani group companies' stocks.
In January 2024, the Supreme Court refused to transfer the probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani group to an SIT and had directed market regulator SEBI to complete its probe into two pending cases within three months.
Earlier this year the SC also dismissed a plea seeking to review the verdict that had sought investigation by the market watchdog SEBI in the Adani-Hindenburg case.
—ANI