Gautam Adani surpasses Chinese billionaire Zong Shanshan to become 2nd richest man in Asia

Indian business tycoon and billionaire Gautam Adani has emerged as Asia's second-richest person surpassing Chinese billionaire Zong Shanshan, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The Bloomberg Billionaire Index indicates that Adani Group's net worth is $66.5 billion as compared to Zhong Shanshan’s $65.6 billion. In terms of most wealth owned by a person, the figures also imply that Gautam Adani trails behind his Indian competitor and Reliance Industries Limited  Chairman Mukesh Ambani. 

Gautam Ambani becomes the second-richest man in Asia

According to Bloomberg, Adani surpassed Zong Shanshan in February. Shanshan, who is the founder and chairman of Nongfu Spring was once the world's sixth richest man. Apart from this, he is also the majority owner of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise. Both Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani are placed on the 13th and 14th numbers respectively in Bloomberg's global billionaires’ list. In the past year, Adani's net worth climbed by $32.7 billion while Ambani's plummeted. 

Gautam Adani has built his business empire over two decades. The Adani Group today consists of major mines, ports and power plants to airports, data centre, city gas, and defence. Additionally, the group has also gained control of seven airports, including a major chunk of India's air traffic. Moreover, Adani's organisation has also made major gains in renewable energy capacity addition. Apart from this, the group has also bagged a contract to co-develop a port in Sri Lanka while buying new ports in India. 

Adani Green Energy Announces Acquisition Of SB Energy India 

In another major development, Adani Green Energy Limited on Wednesday had announced one of its largest acquisition in the renewable energy sector. Adani Green Energy Limited announced that it has acquired SB Energy India for a fully-completed enterprise evaluation (EV) of $3.5 billion. SB Energy India is a joint venture between the Japan-based SoftBank Group Corp and Bharti Group with both holding 80% and 20% stake respectively. Additionally, the company also said in a statement that the target portfolio consists of large-scale utility assets with 84% solar capacity, 9% wind-solar hybrid capacity and 7% wind capacity. Adani Green Energy further said, “The portfolio comprises of 1,400 MW operational solar power capacity and a further 3,554 MW is under construction.”

The company said in the official release on Wednesday, “Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL), today signed share purchase agreements for the acquisition of 100% interest in SB Energy India from SBG (80%) and Bharti Group (20%). SB Energy India has a total renewable portfolio of 4,954 MW spread across four states in India.”

“The transaction marks the largest acquisition in the renewable energy sector in India. The transaction values SB Energy India at an enterprise valuation of approximately USD 3.5 billion,” it added.