The sale came as investors were positioning for MSCI Inc.’s index rebalancing on August 31, with hedge funds that had bought shares ahead of the changes expecting to sell them to index-tracking funds, the people said. GQG’s unexpected supply reduced the demand available to those investors, they said.
Adani Energy said on Thursday that GQG had cut its stake to 3.46% as of August 31, from 4.14% at the end of June. The reduction marks at least the second consecutive quarter in which GQG has sold shares in the Adani Group company.
GQG sold more than 19 million shares
A disclosure filed by GQG Partners with Indian stock exchanges shows that entities managed by the investment firm held 62.26 million Adani Energy shares, or 5.09% of the company, before the latest sale. They sold 19.97 million shares, leaving them with 42.30 million shares, or 3.46%.The filing says the shares were sold through open-market transactions, with the transactions taking place after June 30 and through August 31. It also says the latest disclosure was triggered because the combined holding of GQG and the entities acting with it changed by more than 2% from its previous disclosure.
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The holdings are spread across GQG funds and other investment vehicles. The filing shows, for example, that Goldman Sachs Trust II – Goldman Sachs GQG Partners International Opportunities Fund reduced its holding from 30.83 million shares to 20.91 million, while GQG Partners Emerging Markets Equity Fund cut its holding from 13.30 million to 9.02 million.
The disclosure identifies GQG Partners LLC as the investment manager for the acquiring entities and persons acting in concert, and says the firm made the investment decisions on their behalf.
GQG, a Lauderdale-based asset management firm led by Rajiv Jain, was the first large institutional investor to buy Adani Group stocks after Hindenburg Research’s January 2023 report triggered a sell-off that erased about $150 billion from the group’s market value.Shares of Adani Energy Solutions closed at ₹1,408.00, up 1.61% on Friday from its previous close.
