Buch had said in a statement that she had recused herself from all matters involving Blackstone, but the company, through its different subsidiaries, either owns or holds a significant stake in Indian companies.
SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch’s connection with the Blackstone has come under scrutiny after Hindenburg Research report’s allegations linking her to Adani group. The new report has raised several questions about Buch’s close connections with Blackstone & questioned conflict of interest in the matter.
It has emerged that Buch’s husband Dhaval Buch is currently an adviser to Blackstone Inc., the world’s largest alternative asset manager with over $1 trillion assets under management. Blackstone has sponsored two of the four listed Real Estate Investment Trusts.
“Blackstone is heavily invested in India. It is the promoter of many companies in India. That [Buch] has recused herself from Blackstone matters isn’t enough given the amount of investment they have in India,” a veteran fund manager, requesting anonymity, told The Morning Context.
New Report On Madhabi Puri Buch
Earlier, Madhabi Puri Buch had refuted the conflict of interest accusations made by the Hindenburg Research about her ownership of “stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.”
She also stated that she had withdrawn from all Blackstone-related matters as SEBI chairperson.
The Morning Context has reported that even though Madhabi has recused herself from all Blackstone-related affairs, Blackstone either owns or has a significant stake in major companies like the hospital chain Care Hospitals, the IT services provider Mphasis, Aadhar Housing Finance, Indiabulls Housing Finance (now Sammaan Capital), and ASK Investment Managers, among others.
Madhabi Puri Buch and SEBI have not disclosed whether she had recused herself from all the cases involving Blackstone-linked companies.
The Morning Context report added that in August 2021, as a full-time SEBI member, Madhabi Puri Buch resolved an insider trading case against one Atul Goel and his business, E-city Hi-Tech Projects. This is significant because in April 2019, Ashok Goel Trust, in which Atul Goel is an advisory board member, was the 51 per cent stake buyer of Blackstone interest.
Hindenburg Accusations On Madhabi Puri Buch
Hindenburg’s report had also raised questions about the SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and stated that she is promoting real estate investment trusts as a promising asset class without disclosing that her husband Dhaval Buch is now an adviser to Blackstone Inc, which has sponsored two of the four listed REITs in India.
The Hindenburg report highlighted that her husband, Dhaval Buch was appointed as a senior advisor to Blackstone in 2019 despite “never worked for a fund, in real estate or at a capital markets firm”. He was the chief procurement officer at Unilever.