- Write by:
-
Wednesday, August 31, 2022 - 12:56:15
-
465 Visit
-
Print
Mining News Pro - Few outside of India had heard of Gautam Adani just a few years ago. Now the Indian businessman, a college dropout who first tried his luck as a diamond trader before turning to coal, has become the world’s third-richest person.
It’s the first time an Asian person has broken into the top three of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — fellow citizen Mukesh Ambani and China’s Jack Ma never made it that far. With a $137.4 billion fortune, Adani has overtaken France’s Bernard Arnault and now trails just Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos of the US in the ranking.
Adani, 60, has spent the past few years expanding his coal-to-ports conglomerate, venturing into everything from data centers to cement, media and alumina. The group now owns India’s largest private-sector port and airport operator, city-gas distributor and coal miner. While its Carmichael mine in Australia has been criticized by environmentalists, it pledged in November to invest $70 billion in green energy to become the world’s largest renewable-energy producer.
As his empire has expanded to one of the world’s largest conglomerates fueling the remarkable wealth gains, concerns have grown over the rapid growth. Adani’s deals spree has been predominantly funded with debt and his empire is “deeply over-leveraged,” CreditSights said in a report this month.
Some lawmakers and market watchers have also raised concerns over opaque shareholder structures and a lack of analyst coverage at Adani Group companies. Yet the shares have soared — some of them more than 1,000% since 2020, with valuations hitting 750 times earnings — as the tycoon focused on areas that Prime Minister Narendra Modi deems crucial to meeting India’s long-term goals.
Shares of Adani Enterprises Ltd., the group’s flagship, climbed 1.7% on Tuesday to close at a record high.
The pivot to green energy and infrastructure has won investments from firms including Warburg Pincus and TotalEnergies SE, helping Adani enter the echelons previously dominated by US tech moguls. The surge in coal in recent months has further turbocharged his ascent.
All told, Adani has added $60.9 billion to his fortune in 2022 alone, five times more than anyone else. He first overtook Ambani as the richest Asian in February, became a centibillionaire in April and surpassed Microsoft Corp.’s Bill Gates as the world’s fourth-richest person last month.
Adani was able to move past some of the world’s richest US billionaires partly because they’ve recently boosted their philanthropy. Gates said in July he was transferring $20 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, while Warren Buffett has already donated more than $35 billion to the charity.
The two, along with Gates’s ex-wife Melinda French Gates, started the Giving Pledge initiative in 2010, vowing to give away most of their fortunes in their lifetimes. The billions of dollars spent on philanthropy has pushed them lower on the Bloomberg wealth ranking. Gates is now fifth and Buffett is sixth.
Adani, too, has increased his charitable giving. He pledged in June to donate $7.7 billion for social causes to mark his 60th birthday.
Short Link:
https://www.miningnews.ir/En/News/622077
![Whitehaven Coal sees higher prices on disruptions](/Incsys/Photo.aspx?image=/Uploads/News/20240723142535752.jpg&width=236&height=180)
Australia’s Whitehaven Coal said it expected higher prices for steelmaking coal in the near and medium term due to ...
![BHP posts second straight year of record iron ore production](/Incsys/Photo.aspx?image=/Uploads/News/20240723134042848.jpg&width=236&height=180)
BHP Group on Wednesday reported record annual iron ore production for a second consecutive year, helped by improved ...
![UK’s first coal mine in 30 years faces climate court test](/Incsys/Photo.aspx?image=/Uploads/News/20240723132524278.jpg&width=236&height=180)
Climate groups called a decision to open the UK’s first deep coal mine in more than three decades unlawful, claiming ...
![Polish miner found alive after more than 48 hours trapped underground](/Incsys/Photo.aspx?image=/Uploads/News/20240721173143295.jpg&width=236&height=180)
A Polish coal miner trapped underground since Thursday was found alive by rescuers on Saturday, local media reported.
![Botswana eyes new export route to exploit huge coal resource](/Incsys/Photo.aspx?image=/Uploads/News/20240721173044358.jpg&width=236&height=180)
Three southern African nations signed a deal to proceed with a rail and port project to help land-locked Botswana export ...
![China pauses new coal-based steelmaking for first time in years](/Incsys/Photo.aspx?image=/Uploads/News/20240721170703156.jpeg&width=236&height=180)
China didn’t permit any coal-based steelmaking projects in the first half of the year for the first time since ...
![Indonesia considers reopening bauxite exports](/Incsys/Photo.aspx?image=/Uploads/News/20240721153501588.jpg&width=236&height=180)
Indonesia plans to review its bauxite export ban policy following a request from lawmakers to reopen shipments of the ...
![India boosts gold reserves by most in two years](/Incsys/Photo.aspx?image=/Uploads/News/20240716145816123.jpeg&width=236&height=180)
India’s central bank probably increased its gold reserves by the most in almost two years last month, according to a ...
![Teck jumps on buyback, debt plan after coal sale to Glencore](/Incsys/Photo.aspx?image=/Uploads/News/20240716145228213.jpg&width=236&height=180)
Shares of Teck Resources Ltd. jumped the most since April on the company’s plans to cut debt and return cash to ...
No comments have been posted yet ...