Adani’s UK Units Dropped Deloitte as Auditor for Smaller Firm

Irina Anghel, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- Adani Group dropped Deloitte as the auditor of various UK subsidiaries last year, replacing it with a far smaller accountancy firm.

Crowe UK replaced the Big Four firm as the auditor of UK entities including Adani Energy Holdings Ltd. after the Indian firm bought them in 2021, corporate filings show. Crowe UK is ranked as the 12th largest firm by fee income in the UK by Accountancy Age.

Adani is seeking to restore confidence in his sprawling conglomerate’s financial health after a scathing short seller attack in late-January wiped out $118 billion of the group’s market value and forced the flagship to scrap a share sale. US-based Hindenburg Research had accused it of accounting fraud, stock price manipulation and pledging their inflated shares for loans —- allegations Adani has repeatedly denied.

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Adani’s UK subsidiaries include a portfolio of renewable power plants across India that were sold to Adani Green Energy Limited by SoftBank Group and Bharti Enterprises in 2021. Adani hired Crowe UK to audit the companies after the acquisition, ditching Deloitte which used to audit the accounts.

SoftBank’s had a “UK holding company and thus primary audit was in [the] UK,” Adani Green Energy Limited said in a statement to the Financial Times, which reported the news earlier. It noted that EY — a Big Four firm — audits the group’s listed Indian parent company.

Crowe UK didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.