Gautam Adani’s fortune just keeps shrinking. He was worth one-third more than Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani just a few weeks ago. Today, Adani’s worth $42.2 billion – almost exactly half Ambani’s $83.3 billion.
Adani’s total worth fell by $1.2 billion Thursday as his group companies continued their relentless downward slide on the stock market on the back of investor worries about the financial health of his sprawling ports-to-energy empire.
At his peak in mid-2022, Adani was worth $147 billion and was Asia’s richest person by a long head and briefly the world’s second richest man. On Thursday, he fell to 26th position globally and he’s only the fourth-richest in Asia. On Monday, the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List calculated Adani was worth $47.9 billion and in 25th position.
'Brazen share price manipulation'
Adani’s troubles began last month when a US hedge fund released a report accusing the Adani Group of accounting fraud, “brazen” share price manipulation and money laundering – allegations the conglomerate has strongly denied.
Before Hindenburg Research released its report, Adani was keeping company with global stars like Tesla’s Elon Musk and LVMH’s luxury king Bernard Arnault ahead of him and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett just behind him.
Ahead of Adani in Asia on Thursday is Ambani, who’s the world’s eighth richest person. (Ambani is back in his long-held spot as the richest Indian and he’s again the richest Asian).
Other billionaires
Other Asians who are ahead of Adani are China’s pharmaceuticals and beverages giant Zhong Shanshan who’s in the 14th spot, worth $67.6 billion, and another Chinese billionaire TikTok’s Zhang Yiming who’s worth $49.5 billion and in 24th position globally on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List.
On Thursday, the BSE Sensex fell 139 points and Ambani also lost $393 million. Corporate-watchers have always kept a close eye on the worth of Ambani and Adani.
This year hasn’t been great for Ambani either. His wealth has declined by more than $5 billion in 2023 due to falls in the share prices of his companies. Of course, Ambani’s year-to-date losses have been massively exceeded by Adani’s. But the two men have been the biggest wealth losers on the world’s richest lists in 2023 so far.
Another rocky day
Group flagship Adani Enterprises had another rocky day Thursday, losing Rs 14 and landing at Rs 1,382 when trading closed. It has fallen Rs 414.97 or 22 per cent in the last five trading days. Adani Enterprises was at Rs 3,442 on January 24 and has fallen by Rs 2,053 or 59 per cent in the last month.
Other Adani public limited companies also had a rough day. Three companies – Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission and Adani Green – hit the 5 per cent lower circuit limit as soon as they opened and trading was halted.
Adani Total Gas has just won licences to develop gas networks in 14 geographical areas. CEO Suresh P. Manglani told reporters at an industry event recently that the company would not cut back on its plans in the coming months despite the heavy costs involved.
The break-up of losses
Adani Total Gas’ shares are now at Rs 791.35. It was flying high at close to Rs 4,000 a few months ago. It has lost Rs 198.65 in the last five days and hit the lower circuit soon after trading opened on all days.
Similarly, Adani Transmission has crashed from a peak of Rs 4,236 in the last year. It hit Rs 745.75 in closing trade Thursday after triggering the lower circuit breaker almost as soon as the market opened.
The Adani Group’s combined market cap has fallen to below $100 billion from slightly over $300 billion just a few weeks ago.
However, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones rose slightly Thursday. It’s considered one of the better group companies still with good prospects. Two other companies that are thought to have potential despite the hammering the group has received in the last month are Adani Wilmar and Ambuja Cements, both of which were bought by Adani in 2022.
