Under-reporting of debt

In December 2019, short-seller Muddy Waters questioned the company's statement of

accounts, concerned that NMC had "manipulated its balance sheet to understate debt" and

contained statements which were "hallmarks of significant fraud".

In February 2020, Executive Vice Chairman Khalifa Butti Omeir Bin Yousef resigned from

NMC. The company said a legal review was being undertaken to verify the total interests of

some of its shareholders over concerns they have been incorrectly reported. Later in the

month shares in the company were suspended from trading amid concerns that debt had

been under-reported: the Financial Conduct Authority announced an investigation.

Parallely, in February 2020, as per the regulatory fillings to the London Stock Exchange, the

company disclosed about the "highly preliminary approaches" made by the private

equity groups Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Switzerland-based GK Investment for possible

buyout. However, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts backed off by 11 February 2020 and later GK

Investment also backed off by the end of February.

In March 2020 the company reported that:

(i) It has identified over $2.7 billion in facilities that had previously not been disclosed

to or approved by the Board

(ii) The Board believes that some proceeds may have been utilised for non-Group

purposes.

This meant that the actual indebtedness was not $2.1 billion as previously reported but circa

$5 billion as at 30 June 2019. On 24 March 2020 the total debt was then estimated at $6.6

billion.

On 8 April 2020, NMC went into administration in UK due to the insolvency of the company

due to alleged frauds committed by founder and then-chairman of the board B.R.

Shetty. Consequent to the request from the board of directors of NMC and ongoing