Indian ports-to-mining billionaire conglomerate Adani Enterprises has rejected media reports that it has been eyeing to acquire a port in Greece.
"We deny this speculation," an Adani spokesman told Sputnik India in an exclusive statement.
Multiple reports in Greek media indicated that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi lobbied for Adani Group while meeting the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during the former’s official visit to Athens on August 25.
No official announcement, meanwhile, has been made on the matter by either side.
According to Greek publication Thema, Modi expressed an interest in the acquisition of ports in Greece.
“The reason for the interest of the Indian group Adani Group for the acquisition of a port in Greece is the billionaire tycoon Gautam Adani," Thema quoted its sources as saying.
Another Greek publication, Businessdaily.gr, quoted sources as saying that Adani Group was focussed ports of Kavala and Volos.
The publication claimed that Adani “maintains close friendly relations” with Adani Enterprises head Gautam Adani.
The Greek media reports have been cited widely in Indian media as well as picked by the main opposition party Congress.
Congress Parliamentarian Rahul Gandhi, widely viewed as a prime ministerial contender by his supporters in 2024, accuses the Indian Prime Minister of favouring Adani over companies in awarding government contracts.
Adani Enterprises Invested in Haifa, Colombo Ports
Other people familiar with the matter told Sputnik India that there wasn’t any question of acquiring a stake in running any Greek port in the foreseeable future, at least for the next seven to 10 years.
They pointed out that Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) was already invested in jointly developing two foreign ports with its local partners — the West Container Terminal (WCT) of Colombo Port and the Haifa Port in Israel.
The Adani group also owns and operates the Abbot Point Terminal which exports coal mined in Australia’s Queensland province.
Haifa Port was jointly acquired by APSEZ and local partner Godot Group for $1.15 billion this January. But the deal had been in making for years before that.
People said that the Adani portfolio has made just one acquisition since the fallout of the New York-based short-seller Hindenburg Research report against the conglomerate in January, which is the acquisition of majority stake in Indian business Sanghi Cements for $604 million last month.
In January, Hindenburg claimed that Adani companies had artificially inflated their share prices in the Indian stock market by routing funds into the Indian stock market through offshore entities linked to company’s promoters, which is not permitted in the Indian law.
The allegations led to one of the biggest stock market crashes in Indian history as nearly $2 billion worth of market value of Adani stocks were wiped off.
Adani has denied the charges, terming them as a “calculated attack on India”.