How one investor bullish on Adani brought 28% of FPI money in 2023

livemint.com:

MUMBAI : Rajiv Jain-led GQG Partners has accounted for more than a fourth of the entire net foreign portfolio investment (FPI) inflows into India in 2023. Of that investment, more than 80% went into the Adani Group, and the rest into five other listed companies. Returns on the investments, too, were impressive.

GQG’s total net investment in India this year, as of 28 December, stood at ₹44,935 crore, of which ₹37,441 crore was pumped into five Adani Group companies, including flagship Adani Enterprises, according to bulk and block deals reported on National Stock Exchange and BSE. The other group companies were Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), Adani Power, Adani Green and Adani Energy Solutions. GQG also invested ₹7,494 crore in five non-Adani companies—IDFC First Bank, Patanjali Foods, GMR Airports Infrastructure, JSW Energy and Max Healthcare Institute.

India’s total net FPI investments stood at ₹1.62 trillion in the calendar year through 27 December. GQG Partners alone accounted for nearly 28% of those inflows. GQG’s investments in the Adani stocks, initially in March, lifted the stocks from the lows they hit after US short-seller Hindenburg Research, in a report released on 24 January, alleged corporate malfeasance against the ports-to-renewable energy group, which rubbished the allegations.

Subsequent investments by GQG in June and August further helped boost sentiment in the group’s stocks. Following the Hindenburg report, the Adani Group’s total market cap of 10 listed stocks shed $125 billion to hit a low of $73.18 billion on 27 February. That value has since rebounded to $155.4 billion currently, thanks in good measure to the investments by Jain’s asset management firm.