Kotak Bank Falls On Allegation It Set Up Fund To Short Sell Adani Enterprises

Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. fell on Tuesday after short-seller Hindenburg Research, in its response, alleged that Kotak Mahindra Investment Ltd. had created and oversaw an offshore fund structure used by Kingdon Capital Management LLC to bet against Adani Enterprises Ltd.

"While SEBI seemingly tied itself in knots to claim jurisdiction over us, its notice conspicuously failed to name the party that has an actual tie to India: Kotak Bank, one of India's largest banks and brokerage firms founded by Uday Kotak, which created and oversaw the offshore fund structure used by our investor partner to bet against Adani," said Hindenburg Research's response to the regulator.

"Instead, it simply named the K-India Opportunities fund and masked the 'Kotak' name with the acronym 'KMIL'".

Shares of the lender fell as much as 2.2%, the lowest level since June 25, before paring some loss to trade 2.1% lower to Rs 1,769.50 apiece as of 11:38 a.m. This compares to a 0.16% advance in the NSE Nifty 50.

The stock has fallen 7.4% year-to-date and 4.8% in the last 12 months. Total traded volume so far in the day stood at 0.37 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 53.59. Out of 42 analysts tracking the company, 28 maintain a 'buy' rating, nine recommend a 'hold' and five suggest 'sell', according to Bloomberg data.

The average 12-month analysts' consensus price target implies an upside of 5.8%.

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