Adani investor GQG’s shares plunge over 15% after UBS downgrades

Shares of major Adani Group investor GQG Partners fell as much as 15.74% on Monday after Swiss bank UBS downgraded the stock from a “buy” to “neutral” on Friday.

UBS also cut its target price on GQG from $3.30 Australian dollars to AU$2.30. The stock was trading at AU$2.08 as of 2:52 p.m. Sydney time.

This is the Swiss firm’s first ever downgrade of the stock since it began covering GQG in 2022. The Australia-listed investment firm is the fourth largest investor in flagship Adani Enterprises.

GQG shares tumbled to a record intraday low of AU$1.96 on Nov. 21 after it was revealed that Adani Group Chair Gautam Adani had been charged with fraud in New York. The stock lost as much as 25%, marking the investment firm’s steepest one-day fall since its listing.

The company said in an email to CNBC on Nov. 21 that it was monitoring the Adani situation, and was “reviewing the emerging details and determining what, if any, actions for our portfolios are appropriate.”

The investment firm also pointed out that its portfolios have “diversified investments,” saying that over 90% of clients assets are invested in issuers unrelated to the Adani Group.

GQG had made billions as the firm invested in Adani after the group’s shares tumbled in January 2023 following a short-seller report by New York’s Hindenburg Research.

Rajiv Jain, chairman and chief investment officer at GQG Partners, told CNBC in January this year that his profits on Adani stood at about $4 billion, but he was likely done investing in the group.

Following a sharp plunge after Adani’s indictment, the group’s shares have been recovering. Adani Green Energy, which is the company in the eye of the U.S. indictment storm, rose 22% on Friday.

“As we work through the legal process, I want to re-confirm our absolute commitment to world class regulatory compliance,” Adani reportedly said in his first remarks following the indictment on Saturday.

— CNBC’s Anniek Bao contributed to this report.