GQG Partners bought 2.2 million shares of Adani Ports, increasing its ownership of the business to 5.03 per cent, the firm disclosed. Adani Ports And Special Economic Zone already has a 4.93 per cent share owned by the investment company. Days prior to the development, Deloitte’s auditor position with the corporation was terminated.
As per reports, the US-based Big 4 auditor’s early resignation, according to the Adani Ports and SEZ statutory auditor, was primarily brought on by a lack of clarity regarding transactions with specific parties, as claimed in the 24 January Hindenburg Research report, as well as by the Rs 1.75 trillion Gautam Adani-led company’s reluctance to conduct an independent external evaluation.
As a “material weakness” identified as at 31 March, Deloitte said, “The company (Adani Ports) did not have an appropriate internal control system in respect of conducting an external examination of allegations made on the company.”
Deloitte further stated that Adani Ports lacked sufficient internal controls to even investigate the accuracy of claims (made by Hindenburg) regarding related party relationships, which might have necessitated disclosures or adjustments of related party relationships, balances, and transactions in the standalone financial statements.
The US-based investment company also acquired an 8.1 per cent interest in Adani Power earlier this week. In two separate bulk transactions on Wednesday, two promoter companies of the Adani group sold a combined total of 31.2 crore shares for more than Rs 8,700 crore.
In June, GQG Partners along with other investors had bought stakes worth about USD 1 billion in two group companies — Adani Enterprises and Adani Green Energy.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones announced its April-June quarter results for fiscal 2023-24 (Q1FY24) on August 8, reporting a rise of 82.6 per cent to Rs 2,114.7 crore, compared to Rs 1,158.3 crore in the corresponding period last year. The port major’s revenue from operations in the first quarter of current fiscal stood at Rs 6,247.6 crore, registering a rise of 23.5 per cent, compared to Rs 5,058 crore in the year-ago period.
