Gautam Adani’s quick ascension to the upper tiers of the world’s wealthiest people has been spectacular. Adani is also the only person in the top ten of Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index who has increased his fortune this year.
His group enterprises, which include ports and energy, have been blazing on all cylinders, making Adani and other investors wealthy — Adani has added $44.6 billion to his wealth since 2022. In comparison, the other nine billionaires on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index lost a total of $259.3 billion during the same time period.
This year, the market value of the seven listed Adani Group companies has increased by 8.55 lakh crore.
Because of his phenomenal fortune rise, he temporarily ranked as the world’s second-richest person, trailing only Elon Musk. Adani’s wealth is projected to be $121 billion, down from a record of $150 billion in September of this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The only two persons richer than Adani are French business billionaire and LVMH creator Bernard Arnault, who has $165 billion, and Elon Musk, who has $138 billion. Adani, who is frequently pitted against India’s other richest man, Mukesh Ambani, has left Reliance Industries’ CEO, whose fortune is believed to be $86.9 billion, far behind in the race to the richest.
Adani’s business empire’s success has propelled him to the top of the sixth edition of the ‘Bloomberg 50,’ a list of the most prominent persons in global business this year. His aggressive acquisitions this year have won him the title of “Asia’s busiest dealmaker,” with the crown prize being the $10.5 billion acquisition of cement giants ACC and Ambuja Cements from Swiss construction company Holcim.
Gautam Adani has made deals in the ports, construction, media, and energy sectors so far in 2022.
Adani began the year by listing Adani Wilmar, an FMCG company, on the stock exchanges in February. This was just in time to capitalise on the benefits of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which drove up edible oil prices and raised the company’s sales and stock price.
The Adani Group’s largest transaction of the year was the $10.5 billion acquisition of ACC and Ambuja Cements from Holcim in September. Together, these two enterprises propelled the Adani Group to the country’s second-largest cement manufacturer in terms of market valuation, after only UltraTech Cement.
Adani also launched a $70 billion new energy plan in September, with the conglomerate planning to build three gigafactories by 2030, one for solar modules, one for wind turbines, and one for hydrogen electrolyzers.
However, the billionaire was hit with a bombshell from CreditSights, a Fitch Ratings organisation, which issued a report warning that the Adani Group’s ambitious growth plans could lead to a debt trap. This alarmed investors, causing the Adani Group companies to lose 94,000 crore in market value in a single day.
Overall, Gautam Adani has had an eventful year, rising from a $77 billion fortune to become the world’s third wealthiest person. It remains to be seen whether Adani will become the world’s richest person in 2023.
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