Business

Deloitte flags issues in Adani Ports deals, cites need for review

Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd.’s auditor sounded a note of caution over insufficient disclosures around the company’s transactions with certain entities, returning the spotlight to allegations made by short seller Hindenburg Research on Gautam Adani’s empire.

Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP raised concerns on Tuesday over the port unit’s transactions with three entities, which the company said were unrelated parties. But the auditor said it couldn’t confirm that the parties were indeed unrelated, and that the firm has refused to get an independent external examination that would help prove so.

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It therefore signed off on the company’s books only with what’s called a “qualified opinion.”

Noting that “the evaluation performed by the group does not constitute sufficient appropriate audit evidence for the purpose of the audit,” Deloitte said that it can’t comment if the company was fully compliant with local laws.

It’s the first time that a top auditor has issued a qualified opinion on part of the port-to-power conglomerate’s books citing allegations from the US short seller report that has wiped more than $100 billion off the group’s market value.

The move will renew concerns that information gaps persist in Adani’s financial dealings, and risks hampering its attempts to move past Hindenburg’s allegations of extensive corporate fraud.

“The qualified statement could be a dampener near term,” Sanford C. Bernstein analysts Nikhil Nigania and Anusha Madireddy wrote in a Tuesday report on the stock.

‘Labyrinth’ of Entities

One area highlighted by Hindenburg that’s received attention is how parties like Adani’s little-known elder brother, Vinod, is a director of several overseas firms which are either investors in or transact with the conglomerate.

The US shortseller characterized this as “a vast labyrinth” of offshore shell entities that moved billions of dollars into Adani firms without disclosure “of the related party nature” of the deals.

The Adani Group has denied Hindenburg’s allegations and has maintained it is fully compliant with disclosures required under Indian laws.

It is awaiting findings of a probe by India’s market regulator that needs to conclude by Aug. 14 deadline on any possible violations by the conglomerate.

An expert panel appointed by India’s top court this month found no regulatory failure or signs of price manipulation in the group’s stocks in its interim report.

Here is more detail on the three transactions flagged by Deloitte:

Adani Group signed an engineering contract with a subsidiary of a company identified in the Hindenburg report from whom 37.5 billion rupees ($453 million) was recoverable as of March 31. The auditor was told by the group that this contractor is not a related party.

There have been financial transactions, including of equity, made with parties identified in the short seller report. Adani Group told Deloitte that these are not related parties. All payables were settled with no dues remaining.

Adani Ports’ sale of its Myanmar port to Solar Energy Ltd., incorporated in Anguilla, earlier this month. The sale price was revised from 20.15 billion rupees to just 2.47 billion rupees and an impairment charge was taken. The group told the auditor these are not related parties.

On a call Tuesday evening with industry analysts, the management of Adani Ports said they had been working with the engineering contractor for a decade. They said it had been delivering projects on time and within cost and that Deloitte decided to qualify it pending the investigation by India’s capital markets regulator and Supreme Court.

Deloitte has also issued a qualified opinion for Adani Transmission Ltd’s financial results for the quarter through March, while auditors of other Adani Group entities — barring Adani Wilmar Ltd. and New Delhi Television Ltd. — issued similar qualified opinions on the respective financial statements, but none have specifically mentioned Hindenburg’s broadside against the conglomerate.

Deloitte is the only Adani Group auditor to raise concerns over the nature of specific transactions as part of its qualified opinion, whereas other auditors only cited the ongoing investigation by the Securities and Exchange Board of India as the basis for their opinion.

Crown Jewel

The auditor’s caution emerged as Adani’s flagship ports business reported profit of 11.59 billion rupees in the quarter through March that missed the average 15.57 billion rupee estimate from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, marred by an impairment after it pulled out of the Myanmar.

The company houses some of Adani’s most lucrative assets and is often touted as the group’s crown jewel, with its 14 ports handling nearly a quarter of all cargo passing through India. It is also the most widely tracked Adani stock among sell-side analysts. All 20 currently covering the stock have a buy rating, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Adani Ports forecast earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization would grow by as much as 17 percent in the year through March 2024, buoyed by an expansion of cargo volumes.

That guidance “reflects a resilient growth profile capable of defying a global slowdown, underpinned by earlier investments and M&A,” Denise Wong, an infrastructure analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote on Wednesday.

But growth may hinge on its ability to marshal financing and the “conclusion of regulatory probes and a stronger push to improve corporate governance,” she said.

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Business

Almarai signs multiple agreements to localize jobs through training and recruitment programs

Almarai signed a cooperation memorandum with the Food Industries Polytechnic, the
Transport General Authority, and the Saudi Logistics Academy to localize jobs in the
food and beverages sector through training and rehabilitation programs ending in
employment. This came within the first international conference on the labor market,
organized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development on 13 – 14
December 2023 at the King Abdulaziz Convention Center in Riyadh.

‘These agreements are part of Almarai’s corporate program for the social responsibility
to achieve localization in the food industry sector, which is one of the top priorities of the
comprehensive strategic plans in Almarai, especially since the company is one of the
largest working environments in the kingdom, with more than 9,000 Saudi employees,
including more than 900 Saudi female employees.”Fahad Aldrees, Chief Human
Resources Officer of Almarai, said.

He added that the agreements signed to train and qualify young people are part of the
integrated initiatives and training and rehabilitation programs for national human
resources in Almarai. He pointed out that the company provided about half a million
employee training hours during 2022, raising its retention rate to 90% during 2022.

It is worth mentioning that Almarai is the world’s largest vertically integrated dairy
company, and the largest food and beverage producer and distributor in the Middle
East. Almarai was ranked among LinkedIn’s top 15 Saudi companies for professional
career development for 2022.

Business

SEBA Bank rebrands to AMINA Bank and continues to write its success story

a fully licensed Swiss crypto bank, announced today its new brand identity: AMINA Bank AG. The group operates
globally from its regulated hubs in Zug, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong, offering its clients traditional and crypto banking services.
SEBA Bank made history in 2019 by becoming one of the first FINMA-regulated institutions to provide crypto banking services. This rebrand marks a new chapter for the company, which has proudly been in operation for more than four years. AMINA Bank is inspired by the same trailblazing ambition to lead the way for its clients and to write its own future as a Swiss-
regulated crypto bank offering services to its traditional and crypto savvy clients around the globe. The name ‘AMINA’ stems from the term ‘transAMINAtion’, meaning transference of one compound to another. AMINA is a brand driven by perpetual change, bringing together the various ‘compounds’ of traditional, digital, and crypto banking to unlock new potential and
growth for our clients. This vision of change represents the transformation of our clients’ financial future. Franz Bergmueller, CEO of AMINA, said: “We are delighted to introduce the world to our new brand identity. While we say goodbye to the SEBA name, we remain forever proud of the achievements made by the group under the former brand. “Our brand signifies a new era in the company’s growth and strategy; we are a key player in crypto banking and are here to define the future of finance. With our client-focused approach, our years of traversing traditional and crypto finance, we offer a platform for investors to build
wealth safely and under the highest regulatory standards.” “We are grateful to be encouraged by our supportive and committed investors who have been very helpful, supporting the growth of the company. We thank our employees in all the regions
for their dedication and client focus. As we look forward to 2024, our ambition is to accelerate the growth of our strategic hubs in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi, and to continue our global expansion, building on all the successes we have laid down over the past years.” Current clients of AMINA Bank (formerly SEBA Bank) will be unaffected by the rebrand other than encountering the new name; all operations will be business as usual across the board. The branch office based in Abu Dhabi and the subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Singapore will subsequently apply for a name change to align with the head office in Zug.

Business

Uptime Appoints Mustapha Louni Chief Business Officer

Uptime Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Mustapha Louni to the position of Chief Business Officer, a role specifically created to drive strategic leadership and client success. In this new role, Mr. Louni will assume responsibility for the global Uptime sales and marketing organizations and drive overall business value for all Uptime clients. He will retain his existing responsibilities overseeing operations in the Middle East, India, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. In this elevated capacity, Mr. Louni is poised to play a pivotal role in driving Uptime’s next phase of global expansion through strategic initiatives to enhance market awareness of the dramatically expanding global service lines and delivery capabilities of Uptime that uniquely support the global data center industry in its pursuit of ever higher performance through elevated availability, resiliency, sustainability, and cyber-security of digital infrastructure. Louni’s appointment renews and expands Uptime

Institute 39;s 30-year commitment to advancing excellence in the data center sector on a global scale. “Today we are experiencing the next phase of the one-time, planetary transformation from analog to digital. This unprecedented, once-in-a-generation growth in data center demand is primarily driven by continuing cloud adoption, the new promise of AI, and the demonstrable fact
that hybrid digital infrastructure is here to stay for the foreseeable future,” said Martin McCarthy, CEO, Uptime Institute. “These complex and nuanced market demands require a visionary talent like Mustapha Louni. He is someone who cannot only deftly manage specific aspects of the business but also remain ahead of accelerating changes and trends. He continues to earn client
trust and respect by timely delivery on demanding commitments while he also inspires and energizes colleagues and clients alike. I am delighted to announce Mr. Louni’s new position and know that he will continue to expand the impact that he has already brought to Uptime since his arrival.” In 2014, Mr. Louni joined the Uptime organization in the United Arab Emirates, leveraging his extensive experience from roles at Panduit and Schneider Electric in Paris and Dubai. As the company’s first commercial resource in the Middle East and Africa region, Mr. Louni played a pivotal role in expanding Uptime’s presence. Within a year, he successfully established what became and remains Uptime’s fastest growing regional office. Under his leadership, Uptime has
extended his impressive trajectory of growth in MEA to the Asia-Pacific regions, augmenting the Uptime workforce with dedicated team members spanning more than a dozen countries across these regions. A new Uptime office has been inaugurated in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) this year, further fortifying the company’s ability to meet its commitment to sustained
growth and excellence and serve clients in critical, accelerating markets for digital infrastructure.

Uptime Institute began development of its proprietary and now globally recognized Tier Standards and its Tier Certifications 30 years ago to ensure that the mission critical computing needs of all organizations could be met with confidence and understood by executive management. Since that time, Uptime Tier Certification as well as other Uptime offerings including assessments and awards in digital infrastructure for ensuring business performance in areas of management and operations, risk and resilience, sustainability, and more recently cyber- security have gained global adoption. Uptime’s expanding success is based on delivering a
unique business service that is based upon unparalleled engineering excellence and technical mastery, while remaining vendor independent and technology agnostic.