The shares of Adani Wilmar fell up to 5 per cent on Wednesday amid reports the Adani group is looking to sell a large part of its stake in the company to concentrate on its core business such as infrastructure, green energy and airports.

Adani Wilmar which is a joint venture between Adani group and Wilmar of Singapore is present in the food FMCG segment that includes edible oil, sugar, flour, rice, pulses and sugar.

Adani Commodities, which is an arm of Adani Enterprises, and Wilmar hold 43.97 per cent each in the company.

Days after the conglomerate exited the financial services business by selling Adani Capital to Bain, a Bloomberg report on Tuesday said Adani Enterprises is considering a potential sale of its 44 per cent in the joint venture in a bid to free up capital for its core business.

The report added that Gautam Adani may retain a minority stake in his personal capacity.

News of the potential sale led to the shares of Adani Wilmar coming under pressure.

It fell 4.84 per cent in intra-day trades to a low of Rs 374 following which the scrip settled at Rs 378.20, a drop of 3.78 per cent, or Rs 14.85, over the previous close.

The company has a market capitalisation of Rs 49,153.84 crore: the potential sale of the nearly 44 per cent stake could yield nearly Rs 21,600 crore to the Adani group.

Responding to a clarification sought by the bourses on the report, Adani Wilmar said: “We would like to clarify that we are unable to comment on media speculation and rumours and it would be inappropriate on our part to do so.

“We have made and will continue to make disclosures in compliance with our obligations under the Sebi (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, and our agreements with the stock exchange.’’

Adani Wilmar had posted a consolidated loss of Rs 79 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2023 compared with a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period of the previous year.

This came on the back of lower revenues of Rs 12,928 crore from Rs 14,724 crore in the year-ago period.

On a standalone basis, the company reported a loss of Rs 38.44 crore against a net profit of Rs 170.31 crore in the same period of the previous year.

The company’s shares have not had a very good run on the bourses even as some of the other companies in the group have recovered from their lows following the Hindenburg report. Its shares are down over 5 per cent from early March.