It took Gautam Adani a year to rejoin the select group of persons with fortunes over $100 billion.
The Indian business magnate has restored much of his money following a short-seller onslaught that sent it plummeting in early 2023. On Wednesday, Adani’s net worth increased $2.7 billion to $100.7 billion, the highest it has been since Hindenburg Research accused his Adani Group of “brazen” market manipulation and fraud, which the Adani Group rejected.
Shares of his flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. soared for the ninth day on Wednesday, following an earnings report last week that revealed a 130% increase in profit. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he is now the world’s 12th richest person, trailing only his compatriot Mukesh Ambani by one spot.
While Ambani’s fortune reached a new high earlier this month, Adani’s remains almost $50 billion below its 2022 top.
Adani’s fortune fell by more than $80 billion in the month following the announcement, to a low of $37.7 billion. His conglomerate, which had previously lost more than $150 billion in market value, spent months wooing investors and lenders, repaying loans, and assuaging regulatory fears.
Last year, Rajiv Jain’s GQG Partners LLC invested almost $4 billion in Adani Group enterprises, while the Qatar Investment Authority invested nearly $500 million and TotalEnergies SE staked $300 million on a joint venture with Adani Green Energy Ltd., the conglomerate’s green arm.
People familiar with the discussions said earlier this week that Adani Green is in talks to raise $500 million in dollar notes, its first international offering since the Hindenburg report.
In January, the Supreme Court of India ordered the local markets regulator to complete an investigation into the group within three months and stated that no further investigations were required, boosting Adani Enterprises shares.
Adani’s resurgence — and, more broadly, India’s wealth explosion — is taking place as foreign investors shift their attention to the country, boosting stock prices. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are among the banks that have identified India as a top investment destination for the next decade.
Adani, 61, dropped out of college in the early 1980s to try his hand in Mumbai’s diamond sector before transitioning to coal and shipping. His empire has subsequently expanded to include everything from airports to data centres, media, and green energy, with a concentration on areas that Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes are critical to India’s long-term economic aspirations. Adani’s fortune peaked at $150 billion, making him the world’s third richest person.
After losing more money than anybody else in 2023, Adani has recovered $16.4 billion this year, one of the largest gains among the super-rich tracked by Bloomberg.
