Gautam Adani has hired one of the most expensive legal firms in the US, Wachtell, in its fight against short-seller Hindenburg Research. Known to be one of Wall Street’s fiercest defence law firms, Wachtell has been hired as the Adani Group seeks to reassure its investors about the conglomerate’s health.According to a report by Financial Times, Adani Group enlisted the services of senior lawyers at New York Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz as it looks to stem the crisis that emerged from Hindenburg’s damning report that alleged that the conglomerate indulged in accounting fraud, stock manipulation and other malpractices.
Wachtell, the report said, was approached by the conglomerate at the office of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas firm that is leading the defence of Adani Group. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas is led by Cyril Shroff, whose daughter is married to Gautam Adani’s son. Wachtell has been reportedly seeking further advisory support for the Adani Group, including from crisis communications firms. The law firm that has expertise in thwarting unwanted attacks by corporate raiders will focus on co-ordinating legal, regulatory, and public relations for the conglomerate. Since the release of the Hindenburg report, Adani Group lost as much as $100 billion. Lenders such as Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Standard Chartered stopped accepting Adani bonds as collateral for margin loans. All this took place even after the group released a 413-page response, apart from the multiple videos and statements from Gautam Adani and CFO Robbie Singh.