Interest of investors paramount, rest is secondary: Gautam Adani after calling off FPO

Adani Enterprises called off its Rs 20,000 crore share sale after the company's stocks took a beating following criticism by American short seller Hindenburg Research.

New Delhi, Feb 02: Billionaire Gautam Adani on Thursday said the "interest of my investors is paramount and everything is secondary" as he explained the decision to call off India's biggest FPO, which was fully subscribed.

"In my humble journey of over 4 decades as an entrepreneur I have been blessed to receive overwhelming support from all stakeholders particularly the investor community. It is important for me to confess that whatever little I have achieved in life is due to the faith and trust reposed by them. I owe all my success to them," said Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group.

"For me, the interest of my investors is paramount and everything is secondary. Hence to insulate the investors from potential losses we have withdrawn the FPO," Adani said in his video statement.

"After a fully subscribed FPO, Wednesday's decision of its withdrawal would've surprised many. But considering the volatility of the market seen yesterday, the board strongly felt that it wouldn't be morally correct to proceed with FPO," the billionaire said.

"For me, the interest of my investors is paramount and everything is secondary. Hence to insulate investors from potential losses we've withdrawn FPO. This decision will not have an impact on our existing operations and future plans. We'll continue to focus on timely execution," he added.

"Our balance sheet is healthy and assets, robust. Our EBIDTA levels and cash flows have been very strong, and we have an impeccable track record of fulfilling our debt obligations. We'll continue to focus on long-term value creation and growth will be managed by internal accruals," Adani assured.

"Once the market stabilises, we'll review our capital market strategy. We have a strong focus on ESG and every business of ours will continue to create value in a responsible way. The strongest validation of our governance principles comes from our several int'l partnerships," he said.

Adani Enterprises called off its Rs 20,000 crore share sale after the company's stocks took a beating following criticism by American short seller Hindenburg Research.

"The Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held today i.e. February 1, 2023 has decided, in the interest of its subscribers, not to proceed with the further public offer (FPO) of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 20,000 crore of face value Rs 1 each on partly paid-up basis, which was fully subscribed," the company said in an exchange filing.