Quant Mutual Fund's holdings in Adani group stocks remained mostly unchanged even as the crisis broke late last month, noted a report by Business Standard. However, the rout in prices of these shares in the last few days of January led to a sharp decline in the value of holdings, the report pointed out.
As per the BS report, eleven out of 13 active schemes held the same number of shares in Adani Ports and Ambuja Cement at the end of January 2023 as they were in December 2022, data shows. In schemes where the holdings were intact, the value of investments in Adani Ports and Ambuja Cement had declined 24 percent month-on-month to around ₹950 crore at the end of January, highlighted BS.
Shares of Adani group companies have shed billions of dollars after short-seller Hindenburg Research released a scathing report against the conglomerate on January 24.
The rout in Adani Ports and Ambuja Cement—the two companies that feature in most of Quant MF’s portfolios—led to major losses for the schemes, mentioned the report.
Quant Active Fund, which owned two million shares of Adani Ports at the end of both December and January, saw the market value of the holding decline from ₹169 crore to ₹127 crore, BS stated quoting data from Value Research.
Quant Tax Plan, which held the second highest number of shares of Adani Ports among Quant MF schemes, saw the holdings' valuation fall from ₹153 crore to ₹115 crore, it further informed. The net asset value (NAV) of the two schemes declined by 5.4 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively in January. Most schemes offered by Quant MF have underperformed the market so far this year, added BS.
Meanwhile, two Quant MF schemes — ESG Equity and Quantamental Fund — moved out of Adani Ports in January, noted the report.
