Gautam Adani becomes the second richest person in Asia

Billionaire Gautam Adani has become the second-richest person in Asia, as the stock prices of his listed companies soared. According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, the chairman, and founder of the Adani group is now the second-richest Asian after edging past Zhong Shanshan, head of China-based Nongfu Spring beverage company, and the majority owner of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise.

Adani’s total net worth was $66.5 billion compared to Zhong Shanshan’s $63.6 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaire Index. As per the index, first place is secured by the chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd Mukesh Ambani with a net worth of $76.5 billion.

However, Ambani has lost $175.5 million this year. On contrary, Adani’s wealth surged by $32.7 billion.

The six Adani Group companies had a combined market capitalization of Rs 8.36 trillion as of Thursday, against Reliance Industries’ market capitalisation of Rs 12.6 trillion.

Adani Green tops the charts in the group with m-cap with Rs 1.99 trillion. The Adani Group’s market cap has nearly doubled since the beginning of the calendar year, against a 3.6 % decline in the RIL’s m-cap over the period.

The shares of Adani Enterprises and Adani Transmission have also surged more than eightfold and sixfold, respectively.

On 19 May, Adani Green Energy announced the acquisition of SoftBank’s Indian renewable energy business SB Energy’s 5 gigawatts renewable power portfolio for an enterprise valuation of $3.5 billion.

Through such acquisition, the group aims to further increase its dominance in India’s infrastructure sector.