The third richest man in the world behind Musk and Bezos is a college dropout whose fortune has surged $60 billion this year
While 499 other billionaires have struggled to add to their fortunes this year, the world’s third richest man has made a whopping $60 billion.
With a total net worth of $137 billion, Indian-born Gautam Adani’s extraordinary wealth gain in 2022 has far surpassed that of any other billionaire, many of whom have seen their fortunes drop this year, according to Bloomberg’s running tally.
And that’s as billions have evaporated for his wealthy colleagues this year. The world’s richest, Tesla TSLA,
Bloomberg reported that Adani, a college dropout, vaulted into the top three on Monday, the first time a person from Asia has made it that high into the rankings. That puts his billionaire status above that of the CEO of luxury goods giant LVMH MC,
Adani is the founder of Indian multinational conglomerate, Adani Group, the country’s biggest port operator. The company’s other businesses include electric power generation and transmission, renewable energy, natural gas, infrastructure, airport operations and mining. Adani Solar, for example, has a goal of generating 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030.
TotalEnergies TTE,
But the tycoon’s expansion spree has also raised concerns over debt in some corners. According to media reports, debt research group CreditSights last week described Adani’s empire as “deeply overleveraged” and at risk of sinking into a “massive debt trap,” owing to growth plans funded by debt.
Bloomberg recently pointed out that Adani Green Energy 541450,
When asked for comment the Adani Group responded with a note on the CreditSights report that said its companies have successfully executed an expansion plan over the past decade while consistently de-levering with
a portfolio net debt to EBITDA ratio coming down from 7.6x to 3.2x.
EBITDA has a compound annual growth rate of 22% in the last 9 years and debt has only grown by 11% on the same basis. The leverage ratios of the Adani portfolio companies continue to be healthy and are in line with the industry benchmarks of the respective sectors, the note said.
