Jupiter Fund Management is the only UK asset manager to participate in Gautam Adani's $2.5bn share sale, which has fallen under scrutiny after a short seller report last week. 

Jupiter was part of a group of anchor investors that committed to buying nearly half the shares of Adani Enterprises.

Other buyers included Indian companies, offshore funds and global investment banks that bought stock on behalf of clients.

The share sale was fully subscribed on Tuesday (31 January).

It followed a report from Hidenburg Research that accused Adani of improper use of offshore tax havens and concerns about high debt, which Adani denied.

Jupiter pledged £3.4m, which is 0.16% of the issue and makes up 1.4% of the anchor investors.

The company is held in the Jupiter India strategy, where it makes up 0.6% of the overall portfolio.

Chrysalis NAV drops 13% in Q4 but hopeful on IPOs

The £576.4m fund is managed by Avinash Vazirani and Colin Croft. The pair have backed Adani Enterprises and its subsidiaries previously, according to a report in the Financial Times.

They had previously invested £5m in the parent company but sold the position last year at a "significant profit," the report said.

Prior to the share sale, the managers held Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, the only Adani-related companies in the fund.

In 2022 the fund returned 4.2%, outperforming its benchmark, the MSCI India index with net dividends re-invested, which returned 3.6%, according to Morningstar. 

A spokesperson from Jupiter said: "We are monitoring the situation closely, and will always act in the best interests of our fund investors."

UK firms brace for fresh activist attacks

Other fund managers have been avoiding the Adani companies, which has contributed to the portfolios' recent underperformance.

The managers of the JPMorgan Indian investment trust said in their annual report published at the end of September, that their underweight position to the Adani group was the "largest detractor" to their performance.

"We are underweight this group of companies relative to the benchmark given the high capital intensity of the underlying businesses combined with significant levels of debt on the balance sheet," the report said.

Similarly, the managers of the Aberdeen New India trust wrote the company had a "sizeable impact" on its underperformance, in its half year report published at the end of September.

They said that while the group of companies had "dominated market returns in 2022" the trust avoids holding the company as they "fail to meet stringent quality criteria".

However, Investment Week understands that several other UK fund managers do hold Adani companies within their portfolios.