Adani market losses snowball to $100 billion on shelved share sale

India's Adani group shares sank on Feb. 02 after market turmoil forced the conglomerate to axe a crucial $2.5 billion stock offer, deepening its market losses to more than $100 billion and sparking worries about the potential systemic impact. The withdrawal of Adani Enterprises' share sale marked a dramatic setback for Gautam Adani, the school dropout-turned-billionaire whose fortunes rose rapidly in recent years, but have fast dwindled due to a U.S.-based short-seller's critical research report released on Jan. 24. The events are an embarrassing turn for the billionaire who has forged partnerships with foreign players and marquee investors in a global expansion of businesses that stretch from ports to mining to cement. Adani late on Feb. 01 called off the share sale as a stocks rout sparked by short-seller Hindenburg's criticisms intensified, despite the offer being fully subscribed on Jan. 31. In the fallout of the attack, Adani also lost his title as Asia's richest man. The group's flagship firm - Adani Enterprises - plunged 10% after opening higher on Feb. 02. Other group companies - Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Total Gas, Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission - fell 10% each, while Adani Power and Adani Wilmar dropped 5% each. Adani has slipped in the ranking of the world's richest to 16th, as per Forbes' list, down from third last week. Early on Feb. 02, Adani said in a video address the "interest of my investors is paramount and everything is secondary. Hence, to insulate the investors from potential losses we have withdrawn" the share sale.