US short-seller Hindenburg winding up its operations: Founder Nate Anderson

The plan has been to wind up after we finished the pipeline of ideas we were working on, said Nate Anderson

New York-based short-seller Hindenburg Research whose reports on the Indian conglomerate Adani Group led to a rout in the coal-to-port major’s group shares, is officially winding up its business, its founder Nate Anderson said on Thursday (January 16). 

“I have made the decision to disband Hindenburg Research. The plan has been to wind up after we finished the pipeline of ideas we were working on. And as of the last Ponzi cases we just completed and are sharing with regulators, that day is today,” said Anderson in a note.

 

However, Anderson did not specify any single reason for disbanding Hindenburg.

 

 

Nearly two years back in January 2023, the short-seller had published the allegations on Gautam Adani led group which led to an erosion of nearly 65 per cent or Rs 12.4 trillion of the market value of the group companies — from Rs 19.2 trillion to below Rs 7 trillion.

 

The conglomerate also had to abandon a Rs 20,000-crore fresh share sale by flagship Adani Enterprises despite garnering full subscription.

 

Further, in 2024, the short-seller made allegations on Madhabi Puri Buch, chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and her husband Dhaval Buch.

 

The allegations by Hindenburg also led to a political storm for the market regulator which followed up with several accusations on the Sebi chairperson questioning the objectivity in the investigation and conflict of interest.

 

Puri Buch and her husband had refuted the allegations.

 

The market regulator had also sent a show-cause notice to Hindenburg in its investigations in the Adani matter.

 

“Nearly 100 individuals have been charged civilly or criminally by regulators at least in part through our work, including billionaires and oligarchs. We shook some empires that we felt needed shaking,” said Anderson.

 

Anderson added that over the next six months he will be working on a series of materials and videos to open-source every aspect of their model and how they conduct their investigations.

 

 “We are not fearless — we just have faith in the truth and hope it leads us down the right path” said Anderson. 

 

The announcement also comes at a time when a Republican Congressman requested the Department of Justice to preserve all documents and communications linked to the investigations involving Adani.