Operation Zeppelin - Inside Adani's Counter to Hindenburg

HINDENBURG Research, the forensic financial firm that challenged the Adani Group, took its name from the infamous airship that burst into flames upon arriving in New Jersey in 1937.

- AMMAR ZAIDI

And the counter to its damning report against the conglomerate was dubbed ‘Operation Zeppelin,’ named after the German dirigible airships used for reconnaissance and bombing during the First World War.

In January 2023, Hindenburg published a scathing report describing the Adani Group, one of India's largest conglomerates, led by one of its richest men, as "the largest con in corporate history".

The fallout was swift: stock prices plummeted, wiping out over USD 150 billion in market value at the lowest point, and the group's biggest public offering was abruptly scrapped. For a moment, it seemed like Gautam Adani's empire was on the brink.

But that impression didn't last long. The group staged a swift comeback, deploying a mix of public relations, legal maneuvers, and strategic tactics to counter the fallout and restore investor confidence.

The Hindenburg report, which accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud, dropped just a week before Gautam Adani was in Israel to finalise a USD 1.2-billion deal to acquire the Haifa seaport.