Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, friend, lost a huge sum of more than $80 billion in January 2023. But guess what? He’s back in the billionaire club!
Adani’s wealth reached $100.7 billion on Wednesday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, finally crossing the $100 billion milestone after more than a year. And get this, his wealth is expected to jump by a whopping $16.4 billion in 2023 alone.
After all the turmoil in January 2023, when Adani Group was accused of stock manipulation and cooking the books by Hindenburg Research, its fortunes took a complete U-turn. Adani Group dismissed the allegations as nonsense, but their market value declined by more than $150 billion as people sold their shares.
Adani’s wealth dropped to $37.7 billion from a high of $150 billion, meaning he is no longer part of the super-rich group of the world’s top 12 people. However, he is slowly starting to make a comeback by adjusting stock prices, managing loans and raising capital.
Shares of his main company, Adani Enterprises Ltd, have surged 130% since last week after reporting solid profits. As a result, Bloomberg Index has once again placed Adani as the 12th richest person globally, behind fellow Indian, Mukesh Ambani. In early February, Ambani briefly held the title of Asia’s richest person, while Adani faced some challenges.
Adani runs a vast empire, which includes ports, power, green energy, data centres, media and more. This 61-year-old dropped out of college and made a lot of money in coal and ports in the 80s, and then he decided to try his hand in other industries as well.
After the initial shock, investors are now feeling more confident in the group. Big backers such as TotalEnergies and Qatar Investment Authority did not sell their shares despite facing losses. GQG Partners, an asset manager, invested about $4 billion last year.
Adani Green Energy apparently started talking about raising $500 million overseas, which would be their first bond issue since the Hindenburg crisis. And now, the Supreme Court has asked market regulator SEBI to complete the investigation into the allegations within three months.
The rebound shows how billionaires like Adani are cashing in on global investors’ interest in India. Big banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are looking at India as a top destination for investment.
Thanks to some smart partnerships and quick debt restructuring, Adani Group has managed to keep everyone calm despite a poor start to 2023. The fact that the founder is back on the super rich list has brought confidence back, and now the group is targeting big growth in sectors such as data centres, airports and renewable energy.