Adani,60,has spent the past few years expanding his coal-to-ports conglomerate,venturing into everything from data centres 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 Australiahas been criticised by environmentalists,it pledged in November to invest $US70 billion in green energy to become the world’s largest renewable-energy producer.
But worries are growing over the exponential growth. Adani’s deals spree has been predominantly funded with debt and his empire is “deeply overleveraged,” CreditSights said in a report. In the worst-case scenario,that could lead to a default,the Fitch Group unit warned.
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 1000 per cent 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.
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 $US60.9 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’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 $US20 billion to the Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation,while Warren Buffett has already donated more than $US35 billion to the charity.