Adani investor GQG Partners’ shares crash 25% — on pace for record loss after Gautam Adani’s indictment

Rajiv Jain, founder and chief investment officer of GQG Partners, during an interview in New York, US, on Tuesday, April 4, 2023.

Christopher Goodney | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of Australia-listed GQG Partners plunged as much as 25% on Thursday and were set to post their worst day on record, after Adani Group Chair Gautam Adani was charged with fraud in New York.

If losses hold, it will be the investment firm’s steepest one-day fall since its listing on Oct. 2021.

Shares of Adani Group companies also nosedived, as Indian stock markets opened for trade. The Nifty 50 index was down 0.75%, while the BSE Sensex was 0.73% lower.

GQG is Adani Enterprises‘ fourth-largest shareholder, owning about 3.94% of the firm, according to LSEG data.

In a statement sent to CNBC, GQG said that it was are monitoring the charges, adding that “our team is reviewing the emerging details and determining what, if any, actions for our portfolios are appropriate.”

The investment firm also pointed out that its portfolios have “diversified investments,” saying that over 90% of clients assets are invested in issuers unrelated to the Adani Group.

GQG has reaped rich rewards investing in Adani whose shares tumbled after a short-seller report in January 2023 by New York’s Hindenburg Research accused the company of fraud.

Rajiv Jain, chairman and chief investment officer at GQG Partners, told CNBC in January this year that his profits on Adani stood at about $4 billion, but he was likely done investing in the group.

Hindenburg had charged Adani Group of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades,” sending shares plunging by more than 54% in the first quarter of 2023.