Gautam Adani has once more earned top ranking as Asia’s richest person after a turbulent year for his conglomerate. US short-seller Hindenburg Research issued a damning report accusing Gautam Adani and Associates of brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud over decades.
As of Friday, the founder and chairman of the Adani Group is worth $97.6 billion.
Investors were shocked by accusations against the Chinese investment firm that had total market value of $150 billion at one time, yet a year later the Supreme Court has concluded no additional investigation is required.
Who Is Gautam Adani?
Gautam Adani is the founder of Adani Group, an industrial conglomerate. Starting out as a diamond trader and polisher in Mumbai, today he oversees an empire worth an estimated $32 billion that encompasses ports, airports, power generation/transmission facilities, green energy solutions and much more.
Adani Group’s fortune has risen along with India’s economic expansion, with them being particularly prominent players in renewable energy. But their expansion hasn’t come without controversy.
In 2008, Gautam Industries made headlines when caught up in the Mumbai terror attacks. He managed to escape unharmed from Taj Mahal Palace & Tower when gunmen stormed in with violence; but that incident left lasting scars on their image and that of their company. Adani’s companies have rebounded since then. His business strategy centers around “nation building”, which involves helping to develop world-class infrastructure capabilities that accelerate India’s development. Adani Group’s core assets – Mundra Port and the Adani Special Economic Zone – were acquired and developed with assistance from Gujarat state. Adani is closely affiliated with Bharatiya Janata Party and often refers to his work as being done for India.
His Net Worth
As of Friday, the founder and chairman of the Adani Group is worth $97.6 billion. Adani Enterprises was founded by first-generation entrepreneur Gautam Adani in 1988 as a diamond sorter before expanding to commodities trading, eventually creating the massive conglomerate with interests in key areas such as ports and power.
Last year, his wealth increased exponentially and catapulted him into the top ten richest people on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. For a short while he was even second richest after Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
Adani has consistently denied fraud allegations from US short seller Hindenburg Research and spent months assuring investors, lenders, and government agencies of his innocence – however his shares in his ports-to-power conglomerate have suffered since publication of Hindenburg Research’s short seller report.
Adani has gained strength following an order by the Supreme Court for local markets regulator to complete its probe within three months and no further probes are necessary – effectively ending what had become a yearlong ordeal.
His Personal Life
Gautam Adani rose quickly through the ranks as an industrialist before expanding internationally. He saw himself as contributing to India’s rapid economic expansion story; indeed, many of his private companies reflected political interests more directly than those led by any other business leader.
Adani was involved with multiple industries, including coal mining, construction, energy generation, operating ports and airports, manufacturing defense equipment as well as running media companies. Investors in these sectors often showed caution; however Adani managed to find buyers through his strong relationships with politicians.
As soon as the short-seller report surfaced in January, Adani-linked stocks fell precipitously – wiping away roughly $110 billion of their market value and cutting his net worth in half. A follow-on share offering that opened during this sell-off was not able to raise enough funds to relieve pressure off Adani and has made him a target of further investigations and allegations of corruption and financial irregularities.
His Family
College dropout Anil Ambani runs a conglomerate that operates ports and airports, coal mines, power plants, special economic zones and green energy projects in India’s infrastructure sector – similar to his much larger Reliance Industries company run by billionaire Mukesh Ambani.
Adani’s companies form part of the government’s chosen growth model and fulfil India’s need for private sector partners in projects relating to airports, ports, coal mining and renewable energy generation. Adani also places great importance on sustainability – making it one of the biggest green energy players in India.
Hindenburg Research published a short-selling report alleging stock manipulation and debt concerns that caused his shares to dive precipitously, decreasing his net worth by almost $100 billion overnight. To reassure investors, Musk announced prepayment of loans as well as release of shares pledged as collateral against debt obligations.
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