Adani Enterprises Ltd. and its green arm recorded large block trades, sparking speculation over transactions valued at about $900 million.
The flagship of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani saw 18 million shares traded in a single block Wednesday, or about 1.6% of its outstanding stock, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Adani Green Energy Ltd. had a total 35.2 million shares change hands.
Adani has been seeking to rebuild investor confidence since accusations of fraud by US short-seller Hindenburg Research wiped out more than $150 billion in the value of his companies, which span from ports to power businesses. The group has scrapped acquisitions and prepaid debt, with the measures helping the stocks to stage a partial recovery.
The block trade for Adani Enterprises was transacted at 2,300 rupees ($28), a premium to its closing price of 2,284.45 rupees. For Adani Green, the trades were priced at 920 rupees to 924.75 rupees, a discount to Tuesday’s close, and accounted for about 2.2% of its outstanding stock.
Based on average prices, the trades are valued at about $900 million, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Adani Enterprises jumped as much as 5.9% to 2,419 rupees, while Adani Green fell 1.5% to 945.45 rupees.
One investor who has backed Adani is veteran emerging markets fund manager Rajiv Jain. In March, his GQG Partners LLC acquired almost $2 billion worth of shares in four of Adani’s firms and in May Jain said GQG had raised its stake in the Adani Group by about 10% and may take part in any future fund raising by the conglomerate.
(Updates with details on block trades in fourth paragraph)
