Adani Group has shown exponential growth in the last two years. In last year itself, Adani Group listed companies’ market capitalization increased by five times. Currently, the Group has six companies having public offerings under Indian stock exchanges. As per the latest reports, Adani Group is planning to list two more companies that belong to the airport and consumer sector.
Adani Group Growth and Airport Business Details
Gautam Adani, the second richest person in India, is on a record-breaking spree based on business growth in 2021. In the current year, his wealth surge has left all business giants including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mukesh Ambani behind.
Not only his wealth, but his businesses also saw a spike in their market capitalization. Adani Group’s listed companies’ market cap surged by 500% in the last twelve months. Last year, Adani Group’s six listed companies had a market cap of Rs 1.6 lakh crore. Now, their combined market cap grew to Rs 8.5 lakh crore.
Now, Adani Group is on the way to list two more companies on the Indian stock exchange. As per the internal reports, the Airport and food businesses of Adani Group may go public in the future. Adani Group is running the airport business under Adani Airport Holdings. Adani Wilmar is a food sector firm that is a joint venture between Adani Group and the Singapore-based Wilmar International.
If Adani gets successful in listing these two firms, he may surpass Mukesh Ambani to become the richest person in India. As per Forbes’ real-time billionaire list, Ambani and Adani have a net worth of $85 billion and $75.4 billion respectively.
Adani entered in Airport business in 2019. First, the group got a contract to modernize six local airports including Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram. Plus, Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL) acquired an additional 23 percent stake in Mumbai International Airport Ltd. (MIAL) in February this year, which manages Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. The current agreement provides Navi Mumbai Airport’s ownership automatically to Adani Group due to the 73% stake of MIAL in this new airport.
Adani’s Plan to Start Airport and Consumer Firm IPOs
As per the Economic Times report, Adani Group will separate the Airports business from its group before processing the IPO. Adani Group also plans to raise $500 million separately for airport business.
But the Covid pandemic is playing spoilsport in raising funds. An unnamed source said:
“Discussions were held between top company officials and potential investment bankers. At least half a dozen global banks and a bunch of domestic bankers have met top officials recently. However, the group is awaiting better air passenger numbers as the Covid pandemic significantly reduced passenger traffic.”
Currently, Adani Group is serving 10% of the total air traffic in India.
Some experts have raised concerns due to the monopoly of a single firm in the airport business. It may give more power to Adani Group in adding charges as per their need without thinking of the citizens. This is what Adani Group did recently in Lucknow. The group raised the tariffs by as high as ten times in the Lucknow Airport.
Adani Wilmar is another Adani Group firm that may be listed in the future. As per the Money Control report, the Adani Group is planning to raise $1 billion (approx. ₹7,000 crores to ₹7,300 crores) through the IPO. As per the internal reports, Adani Wilmar’s valuation may reach around $9 billion before applying for the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) in June or July. Adani Wilmar is known for the popular edible oil brand ‘Fortune’.
Adani Enterprises also clarified how their business firms operate. In an exchange filing earlier in March this year, Adani Enterprises said:
“We would like to submit and clarify that the Company regularly evaluates all opportunities across its various businesses intending to enhance shareholder value and this may involve discussions with various parties and stakeholders at different points in time.”
When contacted about the recent developments related to business listings, Adani Group did not clarify anything.
