Hindenburg Research has said that contrary to claims made by Indian regulatory authorities that it had a massive financial windfall from its short position in Adani’s securities, it had made only $4 million in gross revenue.
“We have made $4.1 million in gross revenue through gains related to Adani shorts from that investor relationship. We made just $31,000 through our own short of Adani U.S. bonds held into the report. It was a tiny position,” it said in its response to a show cause notice that it said it had received from Securities and Exchange Board of India.
“Net of legal and research expenses (including time, salaries/compensation, and costs for a 2-year global investigation) we may come out ahead of breakeven on our Adani short,” it added.
The Sebi notice Hindenburg Research had a profit sharing agreement with its client Kingdon Capital which would share 30 per cent of its net profits from trading with the short seller, but this was reduced to 25 per cent. K India Opportunities Fund, which made the transactions for Kingdon, remitted proceeds of $54 million to a master fund owned by Mark Kingdon, who also controlled Kingdon Capital.
In the show cause notice SEBI has alleged that Hindenburg Research was involved in unfair practices and violated Indian regulations with respect to trading in the shares of Adani Enterprises.
Among the violations detailed in the notice are profiting from a pre-planned publication of the report without complying with Research Analyst regulations and deflating scrips prices to the maximum extent possible through misleading statements and without adequate disclosures of its financial interest in Adani group companies.
The notice said the report covered valuations of Adani companies listed in India. It said the hedge fund had made misleading disclaimers when it said the report related solely to the valuation of securities traded outside India. “However the report squarely dealt with valuations of Adani group companies listed in India.”