The business empire of Gautam Adani faces major setbacks after US authorities charged him with bribery and fraud. The groups listed companies lost about $33-billion in market-value‚ while international partners back away from existing deals
TotalEnergies which owns significant stakes in Adani companies (including 20% of Adani Green Energy and 37.4% of Adani Total Gas) announced it wont make new investments; their current financial exposure stands between $4-5 billion
Several countries are now re-thinking their partnerships:
- Kenya cancelled a $2-billion airport control deal
- Sri Lanka is reviewing a port development project
- Bangladesh started checking power contracts
- Indiaʼs Andhra Pradesh might end its power agreement
The US Development Finance Corp is also looking into its $550-million port project funding in Sri Lanka. The charges claim that over $265-million were paid to get solar power deals; with most funds going to officials in Andhra Pradesh
These allegations are completely baseless
Kenya also dropped a 30-year energy partnership worth $736-million that was signed last fall. The deal with Adani Energy Solutions was meant to upgrade infrastructure but got cancelled after the news broke. Meanwhile Bangladesh set-up a committee to check deals made during previous government; they want to hire global lawyers to look at contracts including one with Adani Power