“Throughout the fund’s tenure, IPE-Plus Fund 1 made zero investments in any shares of the Adani Group either directly or indirectly through any fund,” 360 ONE WAM said in a regulatory filing before stock exchanges.
IPE-Plus Fund 1, it said, is a fully compliant and regulated fund that was launched in October 2013 and operated until October 2019.
“At its peak, the fund’s Assets Under Management (AUM) reached approximately USD 48 million, with over 90% of the fund consistently invested in bonds. The fund was managed as a discretionary fund by the Investment Manager. No investor had any involvement in the fund’s operations or investment decisions. Mrs. Madhabi Buch & Mr. Dhaval Buch’s holdings in the fund were less than 1.5% of the total inflow into the fund,” the asset management firm said.
360 ONE WAM, which was earlier known as IIFL Wealth Management, said all its funds are fully compliant with all applicable regulations and adhere to the highest standards of corporate governance.The Hindenburg report claims that Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch appeared to have opened their account with IPE Plus Fund 1 on June 5, 2015, in Singapore.The fund, it claimed, was set up by an Adani director and used by billionaire Gautam Adani’s brother Vinod Adani to invest in Indian markets with funds allegedly siphoned from over-invoicing of power equipment to the Adani Group.”In one complex structure, a Vinod Adani-controlled company had invested in “Global Dynamic Opportunities Fund” (“GDOF”) in Bermuda, a British overseas territory and tax haven, which then invested in IPE Plus Fund 1, a fund registered in Mauritius, another tax haven,” Hindenburg said.
Sitting below GDOF in the multi-layer structure (two layers below the Global Opportunities Fund), is the IPE Plus fund, it said, adding that beyond being used as an alleged funnel for Vinod Adani’s money, the tiny fund had other close ties to Adani.
“The Founder and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of the IPE Plus Fund was Anil Ahuja, per his biography. At the same time, Ahuja was a director of Adani Enterprises where he served three terms spanning nine years ending in June 2017, per his biography and exchange disclosures. Prior to that, he was a director of Adani Power,” the report said.
The statement by 360 ONE WAM doesn’t mention Ahuja but Adani Group’s statement said that he was a nominee director of 3i investment fund in Adani Power (2007-2008) and, later, a director of Adani Enterprises until 2017.
“For a discredited short-seller under the scanner for several violations of Indian securities laws, Hindenburg’s allegations are no more than red herrings thrown by a desperate entity with total contempt for Indian laws,” an Adani spokesperson said.
On their part, the Buch family has denied the allegations saying their life and finances are an open book and that all disclosures as required have already been furnished to SEBI over the years.
“We have no hesitation in disclosing any and all financial documents, including those that relate to the period when we were strictly private citizens, to any and every authority that may seek them,” the husband-wife duo said in a joint statement.