MUMBAI: GQG Partners, the largest non-promoting shareholder in the Adani Group, picked up another 1.8% in Ambuja Cements on Friday for nearly Rs 2,750 crore through block deals. With this buy, the US-based investment firm‘s current exposure to one of the biggest cement makers in India went up to 3.1% from 1.3% earlier. This also added to GQG Partners’ aggregate value of its exposure to the Adani group, spread over six companies, to about Rs 62,000 crore or $7.4 billion.
GQG Partners had come under the spotlight in Feb-March of 2023, weeks after US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research had come out with a damaging report on the Adani Group, alleging serious and widespread corporate malfeasance.Although the group had denied all allegations, in about five weeks after, its market cap had crashed by about 65%. It was around that time that GQG Partners – founded by billionaire investor Rajiv Jain – had stepped in as a white knight and invested Rs 15,400 crore (about $1.9 billion at that time) to buy minority stakes in four of the 10 group companies.
GQG Partners had come under the spotlight in Feb-March of 2023, weeks after US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research had come out with a damaging report on the Adani Group, alleging serious and widespread corporate malfeasance.Although the group had denied all allegations, in about five weeks after, its market cap had crashed by about 65%. It was around that time that GQG Partners – founded by billionaire investor Rajiv Jain – had stepped in as a white knight and invested Rs 15,400 crore (about $1.9 billion at that time) to buy minority stakes in four of the 10 group companies.
Over the next few months, he made additional investments in the group’s companies and in June 2023, he invested an additional Rs 11,000 crore to buy stakes in Adani Enterprises, Adani Energy Solutions and Adani Green Energy. He followed it up with another round of investments, worth about Rs 8,700 crore, in Aug 2023 in Adani Power.
By the turn of the year, as all the Adani group stocks had made smart recoveries, GQG’s investments also grew manifold. Jain’s current stake buy in Ambuja Cements is the fourth round of fund infusion in the group by GQG Partners in less than two years.