One Adani-Ambani battlefield that Gautam Adani could be exiting
Hindenburg's damning report on the Adani Group earlier this year led to the sudden pullout of a proposed share sale in the flagship Adani Enterprises and triggered a $150-billion wealth erosion for investors. Chairman Gautam Adani had said that the report was aimed at damaging the conglomerate's reputation and generating a profit by driving down its stock prices.
The group companies have since recovered most of the losses in their share prices and the conglomerate is back to business as usual, but reverberations of the Hindenburg attack could be felt deeper and longer in different ways.
One fallout of the attack by the short-seller seems to be Adani's reported plan to exit the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) business. The ports-to-renewable energy conglomerate is in talks with multiple multinational consumer goods companies to sell its entire 43.97% stake in Adani Wilmar Ltd, which owns the Fortune brand of edible oils and packaged grocery, executives familiar with the matter have told ET. Adani is expecting $2.5-3 billion for the stake in the joint venture with Singapore-based Wilmar International, which too owns 43.97% of the company, they said. A deal is likely to be finalised within a month, though neither of the companies has confirmed it.
The product portfolio of Adani Wilmar includes brands such as Fortune, King's, Bullet, Raag, Avsar, Pilaf, Jubilee, Fryola, Alpha, Alife and Aadhar.
Why is Adani exiting FMCG?
After the Hindenburg report shook investor confidence, the group has brought down debt by prepaying and reduced pledged shares to regain investor confidence. But the Hindenburg attack did disrupt its investment and acquisition plans to some extent. The group promoters have been considering stake
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