Jo Johnson steps away from Adani Group-linked UK firm

FORMER British prime minister Boris Johnson’s younger brother, Jo Johnson (right), has quit the board of Elara Capital, a UK investment firm linked to India’s embattled Adani Group.

Lord Jo Johnson’s resignation as a non-executive director of Elara last Wednesday (1) came a day after Adani Enterprises scrapped its fully subscribed £2 billion (£1.64bn) follow-on public offer (FPO) amid the rout of the group’s companies in the stock market.

Adani Group’s listed companies saw their market valuation crash by more than 50 per cent after the US short seller Hindenburg Research accused the portto-power conglomerate of “accounting fraud” and “manipulation”.

Top Adani executives, however, have denied the accusations.

Hindenburg also claimed that Elara’s Mauritius-based funds were part of a scheme to manipulate the share prices of Adani companies.

Elara, established in 2002 as a capital markets business to raise funds for

Indian corporates, was among the bookrunners for Adani Enterprises’ FPO.

Lord Johnson, who joined the firm last June “in the hope of making a contribution to UK-India trade and investment ties”, suggested his resignation had nothing to do with the Adani controversies. He said he was stepping down because of his lack of “domain expertise”.

“I have consistently received assurances from Elara Capital that it is compliant with its legal obligations and in good standing with regulatory bodies,” the Conservative peer said. “At the same time, I now recognise that this is a role that requires greater domain expertise in specialised areas of financial regulation than I anticipated.”.

Eastern Eye’s requests to Elara for comment on Lord Johnson’s exit and Hindenburg’s allegations were not answered until Monday (13) evening.

Lord Meghnad Desai, a non-executive director at Elara, said he had contacted chief executive Raj Bhatt and Mauritius’ financial regulator about Hindenburg’s allegations, according to a Financial Times report.

Founded by its chief executive Bhatt, the London-headquartered Elara has offices in New York, Singapore, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.