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Today the economy, the portrait, is that of Nathan Anderson, American activist and speculator. He accuses the Indian tycoon, Gautam Adani, of having built his empire on fraud. The Norwegian Investment Fund took note of this and sold the stakes it held in several Adani group companies (Adani Total Gas, Adani Ports, Adani Green Energy).
« It’s the biggest scam in business history. “, denounces Nathan Anderson in a press release on the site of his micro-company Hindenburg Research, making headlines in all the Indian media.
This American activist and speculator, with his revelations, caused Adani to lose 200 billion dollars, an empire which extends from energy, to airports, via the media.
« If this is the biggest scam in all of history, I don’t know, there have been so many, but dn the Indian case, it is the biggest scam, which can be said to have two very clear aspects: the first is the extremely close relationship of Gautam Adani with Prime Minister Narendra Modi since they have known each other for more than thirty years and that in the space of 10, 15 years, we have a meteorite ascent of Gautam Adani who becomes the third fortune in the world by the accumulation of an empire which is based on gigantic debt, by means of loans from Indian public banks, which one might think has been a boost from power, and, secondly, totally obscure financial arrangements through Mauritius in particular which are based on businesses that are not largely unprofitable. What this consultant brought to light was that there was a speculative bubble phenomenon that had been orchestrated around Gautam Adani and that his empire is an empire of debt », Analyzes Jean-Joseph Boillot, researcher at IRIS, the Institute of International and Strategic Relations.
Born in the 1980s, Nathan Anderson grew up in a small town in Connecticut. Her father is a university professor, her mother a nurse. He studied business, then a short stay in Israel where he worked as a paramedic while taking courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Back in the United States, he worked for a financial analysis company, then for hedge funds. In 2017, he founded his research firm Hindenburg Research, named after the German airship that exploded in midair in 1937. His mentor is none other than the American whistleblower of Greek origin, Harry Markopolos, who exposed the financial embezzlement of businessman Bernard Madoff.
Anderson follows in the footsteps of his mentor and, 5 years ago, attacks, in a prosecution investigation, the company Aphira, specialized in therapeutic cannabis which embezzles the funds of its shareholders for its benefit. The title of Aphira collapses in the wake of 25%. His career is launched.
In 2020, he reveals the deception of the American vehicle manufacturer Nikola
« He made a report at the time on Nikola, this company which was going to launch electric trucks to compete with Tesla and indeed, there had been denunciations, certain shortcomings on the part of Nikola which later turned out, remarks Alexandre Baradez, head of market analysis for the broker IG. The goal behind it is actually to make money, but also to say beware, this company has weaknesses, even is fraudulent and risks bankruptcy. »
The American manufacturer then had to pay a penalty of 125 million dollars and its action collapsed by 75%. The jackpot for Nathan Anderson and his team at Hindenburg Research, because this new kind of whistleblower is also betting on the fall in the company’s prices, which he denounces through a short sale mechanism.
« Hindenburg Research is a company, like Citron Research, which made headlines during the Covid crisis with the phenomenon of Gamestop-type shares, which are shares that have moved a lot, continuesAlexandre Baradez. These bands have it both ways: they post notes on bands we’ve sometimes never heard of, and sometimes they take on behemoths. Adani, the Adani group is the strongest in India and so there they are tackling a huge chunk outside the US borders. The objective is to denounce certain practices that the Adani group tries to counter in terms of words, but also to take positions on the decline, to short sell on assets that they consider overvalued compared to reality. , the objective being to take advantage of a fall in prices and the more the title falls, the more money you earn. It’s exactly like a buy trade, but the other way round. »
But when these whistleblowers of capitalism attack a juggernaut like Adani, warns Alexandre Baradez, better not be mistaken, because the reprisals can be formidable.