Shares of all Adani Group companies tanked on Monday after Deloitte resigned as auditor of the group's port company Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) weeks after it raised concern over transactions flagged in a report by Hindenburg Research, a US-based short seller.
The Gautam Adani-run firm said that in a recent meeting with Deloitte, the auditor wanted a wider remit over other firms in the Adani group following the report.
"The Audit Committee was of the view that the grounds advanced by Deloitte for resignation as statutory auditor were not convincing or sufficient to warrant such a move," APSEZ said.
APSEZ said the firm or its board did not have the remit to recommend group-wide appointments as other listed Adani companies are completely independent, with separate boards, executive teams and minority shareholders.
"Following this, Deloitte was not willing to continue as APSEZ's statutory auditor and, therefore, it was agreed to amicably end the client-auditor contractual relationship between APSEZ and Deloitte," it said.
Shares of Adani Enterprises dropped 5.41 per cent, Adani Transmission plunged 4.77 per cent, Adani Power slumped 4.23 per cent, Ambuja Cements tanked 4 per cent and Adani Ports declined 3.7 per cent during the day. Adani Green Energy shares also dived 3.22 per cent, Adani Wilmar fell 3.14 per cent, Adani Total Gas plummeted 3 per cent, NDTV came down 3 per cent and ACC dropped 2.23 per cent.
In a statement, APSEZ confirmed the resignation and replaced Deloitte with MSKA & Associates as the auditor.
Deloitte was appointed as the auditor of APSEZ since 2017 for a five-year term. The tenure was renewed in July 2022 for another five-year term.
—with PTI inputs
