Bloomberg cites KLP’s disinvestment in Adani Green to indicate conglomerate’s collateral web to fund coal mining

New Delhi: Bloomberg came up with a new report on Adani Green Energy Ltd’s stock and debt, which indicates some red flags in Gautam Adani’s business. KLP, Norway’s largest pension fund, disinvested in Adani Green over concerns of funding ‘polluting activities’.

This move came after it was revealed that Gautam Adani is using Adani Green’s stock as collateral to get credit for Carmichael Coal Mine in Australia. Kiran Aziz, KLP’s investing head said that it would be a ‘breach of commitments’ as they have blacklisted coal from their investment portfolio.

According to Bloomberg, 500 funds registered as ‘promoting’ Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals in the European Union hold Adani stock, directly or indirectly. Ulf Erlandsson, chief executive of Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute, indicated that investment in Adani Group’s stocks is being used to fund Carmichael. He also asked investors to ‘revisit potential exposures’ in Adani Group.

Adani Green’s stock price has fallen about 67% in the last one year, while it showed some positives today. Adani Group has been dragged into controversies after Hindenburg Research came up with their report citing stock manipulation and fraud. They also indicated stock pledging and dependency among the conglomerate’s listed companies over one another.

KLP dragged out their investment from Adani Green on January 30. Earlier, the Norwegian firm excluded five other companies of the Adani Group from their investment portfolio.

Bloomberg also said that French company TotalEnergies SE took a 20% share in Adani Green in 2021 and has already withdrawn from coal production and marketing in 2015.