While mutual funds have mostly trimmed their stakes in Adani Group companies, the country’s largest investor in public markets – Life Insurance Corp of India (LIC) – has upped its stakes in four group stocks during the March quarter amid sell-off crisis triggered by a damning report by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research.

The insurer has raised its stakes in four of the six companies – Adani Green Energy, Adani Total Gas, Adani Enterprises and Adani Transmission in the March quarter, while it has trimmed its stakes in two others – Ambuja Cements and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone.

The shareholding remained the same in case of ACC, which stood at 1,20,33,771 shares or 6.41 per cent at the end of March quarter.

LIC’s stake in Adani grp cos
LIC’s stake in Adani Enterprises has gone up from 4.23 per cent in the December quarter to 4.26 per cent at the end of March, according to data from stock exchanges.

In the case of Adani Green Energy, the institutional investor owned 2,14,70,716 shares or 1.36 per cent stake as of 31 March, 2023. This was 8 basis points higher than 1.28 per cent stake it held in the Adani company as of 31 December last year.

In Adani Total Gas, the insurance giant upped its stake by 6 basis points to 6.02 per cent against 5.96 per cent at the end of the December quarter.

The insurer’s stake in Adani Transmission grew by 3 basis points sequentially. LIC upped stake to 3.68 per cent from 3.65 per cent.

Meanwhile, two group stocks – Ambuja Cements (6.3 per cent from 6.33 per cent) and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (9.12 per cent from 9.14 per cent) – saw marginal cut in holdings by LIC in the quarter gone by.

LIC’s debt exposure in Adani group cos
Last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Lok Sabha that LIC’s debt exposure in Adani group companies fell marginally to ₹6,183 crore as of 5 March from ₹6,347 crore as of 31 December, 2022.

LIC has a debt exposure of ₹5,388.60 in Adani Ports and SEZ as of 5 March. The exposure in Adani Power (Mundra) was ₹266 crore, Adani Power Maharashtra Ltd – Phase I ( ₹81.60 crore), Adani Power Maharashtra Ltd – Phase III ( ₹254.87 crore), Raigarh Energy Generation Ltd ( ₹45 crore) and Raipur Energen Ltd ( ₹145.67 crore), as per the written reply to the Lok Sabha.

US-based short seller Hindenburg in January made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against the Adani group, following which shares of group companies had taken a beating.The group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.