Gautam Adani, the richest man in Asia, is reportedly considering establishing a family office abroad in Dubai or New York to manage his soaring wealth, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The chairman of the ports-to-power conglomerate Adani Group is considering establishing an office in Dubai or New York to invest the Adani family’s personal funds, according to people who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. According to one of the sources, the group’s founders are in the process of hiring a full suite of specialized family office managers.
Adani’s personal wealth has increased by $58 billion this year, the biggest among the world’s richest people, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. It also underscores the tycoon’s and his family’s growing global ambitions, as the Adani Group expands outside its traditional base in India.
If Adani, who has a net worth of $135 billion, follows through on this idea, he will join a growing group of ultra-wealthy people who use family offices to handle their wealth, personal interests, and charities. Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio and Google co-founder Sergey Brin have established theirs in Singapore, while Adani’s compatriot and Asia’s second-richest person, Mukesh Ambani, is in the process of establishing one in the city-state, according to Bloomberg News.
According to the sources, the Adani family is currently discussing the ideas with advisers and tax specialists. The office’s location is still in flux and may vary depending on the advice they receive and the availability of resources. An emailed request for comment on this effort was not returned by a representative for the Adani Group, who also handles media questions for the tycoon.
Vinod Adani, the tycoon’s elder brother, is headquartered in Dubai and handles trade enterprises in Dubai, Singapore, and Jakarta. According to the company’s website, Vinod leads Adani Global Investment DMCC, a closely-held organization founded in 2016 to invest in and manage commercial operations. He is the richest non-resident Indian in the world, according to the latest Hurun India Rich List.
The $6.5 billion agreement between the Adani family and Holcim Ltd. earlier this year to purchase the two Indian cement producers was carried out “via an offshore special purpose company,” according to a media release in May, demonstrating the conglomerate’s expanding influence in global financial transactions.
Adani is a first-generation entrepreneur who began his career as a diamond trader in Mumbai in the 1980s before establishing an agri-trading company. Later, he expanded into coal trading and ports, and in recent years, he has rapidly expanded his vast infrastructure business into green energy, airports, digital services, data centres, cement, and media.
The Adani empire’s quick speed of expansion has spurred blistering rallies in his listed companies’ shares, with the flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. more than tripling in value this year, the highest jump on the Nifty 50 Index. These gains have fueled the tycoon’s wealth gains, but they have also raised worries that Adani companies are trading at significantly higher valuations than global and local counterparts.
