At the very moment India’s Adani Group was accused of manipulating its public valuation, two associates of the conglomerate secretly held billions of dollars’ worth of shares in its listed companies, according to bank documents. The revelations, stemming from an internal investigation at Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo, shed new light on the structures suspected of contributing to Gautam Adani’s brief ascent to become the world’s second-richest man.
The documents, shared with the Financial Times by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), detail the findings of an inquiry launched after U.S. Short seller Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of “brazen stock manipulation” in January 2023. The investigation focused on clients linked to the Adani Group and uncovered significant shareholdings held through complex structures.
The newly revealed documents indicate the scale of the holdings of Taiwanese businessman Chang Chung-Ling and Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli, from the United Arab Emirates and confirm they maintained these stakes up to the release of the Hindenburg report. This fuels suspicions about the soaring valuations of Adani companies in the years preceding the report and places renewed pressure on Indian regulators to determine whether insider activity influenced share prices.
Adani Group, a major player in India’s infrastructure sector – encompassing thermal power, ports, airports, and coal imports – strongly denies any wrongdoing. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the country’s capital markets regulator, cleared the conglomerate of fraud allegations last year, but continues to investigate Hindenburg Research for “unfair trade practices.”
The Italian bank documents appear to support a central claim made by Hindenburg: that associates of Vinod Adani, Gautam Adani’s older brother, secretly held and traded substantial amounts of Adani Group stock, potentially violating Indian regulations regarding insider ownership.
A memo prepared for the leadership of Intesa’s private bank, Fideuram, revealed that the Dubai branch of its Swiss private bank, Reyl & Cie (acquired in 2020), had three clients introduced by the same “business introducer”: Vinod Adani, Chang, and Ahli. On the day following the Hindenburg report’s release, Chang held over $1 billion and Ahli held over $2 billion in hedge fund units, with the underlying assets likely invested in Adani Group companies, according to the memo.
Following the release of the Hindenburg report, Intesa Sanpaolo executives met with Chang and Ahli, who confirmed their control over the accounts. They attributed their wealth to professional activities and stated their Adani investments were based on their confidence in the Adani family’s business acumen. Chang and Ahli signed a statement rejecting Hindenburg’s allegations and denying any involvement in the events described. They also expressed a willingness to diversify their investments.
The bank subsequently placed restrictions on Chang and Ahli’s accounts and filed suspicious transaction reports with regulators. The findings corroborate earlier reporting identifying Chang and Ahli as significant, previously undisclosed investors in Adani Group shares.
Hindenburg alleged that these secret holdings were used to manipulate the Adani Group’s stock market valuation over several years, facilitated by the conglomerate’s unusual structure. Unlike many large Indian companies, Adani operates as a collection of independently listed companies with relatively small “free floats” – the proportion of shares available for public trading. This structure, critics argue, made the companies more susceptible to manipulation.
In the two years before the Hindenburg report, the total market capitalization of Adani’s ten listed companies quadrupled, peaking at $288 billion in 2022, briefly elevating Gautam Adani to the position of the world’s second-richest individual, according to Forbes. As of this year, their combined capitalization stands around $160 billion.
Previous investigations uncovered intricate financial trails demonstrating how Chang and Ahli, advised by an employee of Vinod Adani, accumulated and traded Adani stocks between 2013 and 2018 using offshore fund structures designed to obscure their activities. Intesa’s description of their holdings in Bermudian funds, managed by Elara Capital in the UK, suggests a similar structure. The initials of the British Virgin Islands holding companies used by Chang and Ahli also matched those used in previous transactions.
The memo also revealed direct interactions between Chang’s account and Vinod Adani’s, involving loan disbursements and repayments of an unspecified nature. The Financial Times previously reported Chang’s role as a middleman in importing Indonesian coal for the Adani Group, where the reported value of the cargoes increased significantly while in transit.
An Indian government investigation launched in 2016 into allegations of inflated coal prices charged to state-owned power stations remains stalled. The status of SEBI’s investigations into potential insider trading and market manipulation by the Adani Group remains unclear.
The bank documents indicated that Chang and Ahli’s investments were held in five Bermudian funds, four of which were managed by Elara Capital. Hindenburg accused Elara of establishing funds “intentionally structured to conceal their ultimate beneficial ownership,” including one where approximately 99% of the investments were in Adani stocks.
Following the publication of the Hindenburg report, Lord Jo Johnson, brother of former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, resigned as chair of Elara Capital. Raj Bhatt, Elara’s founder, was listed in a compliance document as a director of one of the funds used by Chang and Ahli for their Adani holdings. Reuters reported last year that Elara did not cooperate with SEBI requests to identify the beneficial owners of Adani shares.
In 2024, a Swiss court revealed that Chang was under investigation by prosecutors for alleged money laundering and forgery, with suspicions that he acted as a “frontman” for the Adani Group. Vinod Adani, Elara, and Chang did not respond to requests for comment regarding the Italian bank documents. Chang previously stated he had “no knowledge” of being an Adani associate who secretly purchased shares on their behalf, and declined to confirm whether he knew Vinod Adani. Ahli could not be reached for comment.
In response to the bank document revelations, the Adani Group accused the OCCRP and the Financial Times of collaborating to rehash previously addressed allegations. The group maintains full compliance with all laws and disclosure requirements across jurisdictions and expressed confidence in due process and the rule of law. Intesa Sanpaolo declined to comment, citing legal restrictions on disclosure.
