Following concerns raised about governance at the organisation led by billionaire Gautam Adani by a US short-seller, S&P Global Ratings on Thursday placed its ESG evaluation of Adani Transmission Ltd (ATL) “under review.”
When keeping track of environment, social, and governance (ESG) evaluations, S&P designates certain ESG evaluations as being possibly impacted by changing events by using the term “under review” (with the label “UR”).
“We will closely monitor developments, including any investigations by the Indian regulators and any additional disclosures by the Adani group,” S&P Global Ratings said in a statement.
Since Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of accounting fraud and stock manipulation on January 24, the conglomerate has come under fire and refuted the accusations, calling them “malicious,” “baseless,” and a “calculated attack on India.”
Over 125 billion dollars worth of market value was lost by the group’s listed companies in the previous three weeks. On Thursday, the majority of group companies’ stocks rose. “The allegations related to group governance and disclosures may affect the appetite of fund providers and business partners in supporting ATL’s growth. This may raise financial and operational risks for the company,” the rating agency said.
The largest private power transmission and distribution firm in India is ATL. Adani Family has 74.19 percent of the company. It also owns a 500-megawatt coal-fired power plant and manages 18,795 circuit miles of transmission lines.
“S&P Global Ratings today placed its ESG Evaluation of 63 for India-based Adani Transmission Ltd (ATL) under review,” the statement said. “This follows recent allegations of significant governance issues at the Adani group of companies.”
Numerous complaints concern acts and disclosures taken by shareholders. Since then, ATL’s stock price has fallen along with the equity and bond values for the group’s subsidiaries.
The ESG Evaluation will be finished in the upcoming months, according to S&P. We will evaluate how the claims will affect our ESG Evaluation.
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