”Our total holding in the Adani group companies under equity and debt a on date is Rs 36,474.78 crore. This was Rs 35,917.31 crore as of December 31, 2022. Total purchase value of these equities of the group companies, bought over the past many years, is Rs 30,127 crore and the market value for the same at close of market hours on January 27, 2023 was Rs 56,142 crore,” LIC said in a tweet.
Mumbai:
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) on Monday said it has an exposure of Rs 36,474.78 crore to Adani group’s debt and equity, and the amount is less than one per cent of the national insurer’s total investments.
LIC’s total assets under management stood at over Rs 41.66 lakh crore as of September 2022. The corporation on Monday said its exposure in the Adani Group, as on date, is 0.975 per cent of its total assets under management (AUM) at book value.
In a regulatory filing on Monday, the LIC said that its total AUM are over Rs 41.66 lakh crore as at September 30, 2022. Therefore, its exposure in the Adani group, as on date, is 0.975 per cent of its AUM at book value.
The life insurer said the total amount invested under Adani Group amounts to Rs 36,474.78 crore as on date. These investments have, however, been made over a period.
Further it may be appreciated that the credit rating of all of the Adani debt securities held by LIC are AA and above which is in compliance with the IRDAI investment regulations as applicable to all the life insurance companies, the LIC said.
According to the LIC, its total holding under equity and debt is Rs 35,917.31 crore, as on December 31, 2022, under Adani Group of companies.
“The total purchase value of equity, purchased over the last many years, under all the Adani group companies is Rs 30,127 crore and the market value for the same as at close of market hours on January 27, 2023 was Rs 56,142 crore,” it said.
According to the LIC, its available solvency margin of as at September 2022 was well above the target solvency level of 160 per cent.
The life insurer also said it does not share details of its company and industrial group specific investments in ordinary course of business.
“However, given that certain information is being circulated in the various articles in media and video channels about LIC’s exposure to Adani Group of companies, we are releasing this information to share the factual position regarding our exposure in Adani group of companies in the equity and debt segments,” the LIC said.
The disclosure by the insurer, which is also the country’s largest domestic institutional investor, comes amid Adani group stocks taking a beating on the bourses after the short-selling specialist firm Hindenburg Research in a report made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation, at the Gautam Adani-led group. The allegations have been rejected by the group.
”Our total holding in the Adani group companies under equity and debt a on date is Rs 36,474.78 crore. This was Rs 35,917.31 crore as of December 31, 2022. Total purchase value of these equities of the group companies, bought over the past many years, is Rs 30,127 crore and the market value for the same at close of market hours on January 27, 2023 was Rs 56,142 crore,” LIC said in a tweet.
Adani group has 10 listed companies.
However, the insurer did not disclose about its exposure on an individual company basis.
According to LIC, credit ratings of all Adani debt securities held by it are rated ‘AA’ and above which is in compliance with the Irdai investment regulations.
The Hindenburg Research report came two days before Adani Enterprises’ Rs 20,000 crore Follow on Public Offer (FPO) that opened last week on January 27. The anchor investors’ quota was fully subscribed on January 26.
LIC invested about Rs 300 crore in buying 9,15,748 shares in the ongoing FPO as an anchor investor. LIC already had 4.23 per cent stake in the company.
In all 33 institutional investors put in Rs 5,985 crore as anchor investors in Adani Enterprises’ FPO.
Adani group’s listed companies have lost more than USD 70 billion in total market capitalisation since the report was published on January 24.
Billionaire Gautam Adani’s 413-page attempt to restore confidence in his business empire is falling flat with investors, as stock-market losses deepen and key dollar bonds sink to fresh lows.
Shares of all Adani Group firms slumped on Monday despite the Indian conglomerate’s lengthy weekend rebuttal to allegations of fraud by short seller Hindenburg Research. The three-day selloff has now erased nearly $72 billion of market value amid a share sale by Adani’s flagship that was meant to underline the tycoon’s ascension on the global stage.
While the Adani Group has portrayed Hindenburg’s allegations as baseless and an attack against India itself, the saga is reviving longstanding investor concerns about the conglomerate’s corporate governance. It also threatens to weaken broader confidence in India, until recently a top investment destination for Wall Street, and accelerate a nascent shift toward a reopening China.
“Not sure if Adani’s rebuttal is enough to assuage investor concerns. Just because things are disclosed and known does not make them right,” said Brian Freitas, an analyst at Smartkarma.
Agencies