Mukesh Ambani adds $17 bn to his fortune this year
MUMBAI: It’s been a good year for Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani.
The Indian tycoon added almost $17 billion to his wealth as of December 23, the most in Asia, taking his net worth to about $61 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In comparison, Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma’s net worth grew $11.3 billion, while Jeff Bezos lost $13.2 billion.
The surge in Ambani’s fortune this year was fueled by a 38% jump in the shares of his Reliance Industries Ltd, a conglomerate that’s pivoting more toward consumer offerings than its core oil refining and petrochemicals businesses. The rally in the stock is more than double the gains for India’s benchmark S&P BSE Sensex index during the period.
Investors are piling money on Reliance, betting newer businesses such as telecommunications and retail could soon unlock value. With a goal of building a local e-commerce giant to challenge the likes of Amazon.com Inc. in India, Ambani has spent almost $50 billion—mostly debt—on a wireless carrier that’s become India’s No. 1 within three years of debut.
“Mukesh Ambani changed the narrative for Reliance
Industries” as a leader not just in oil and gas but also in telecom and retail, and possibly soon in e-commerce as well, said Chakri Lokapriya, chief investment officer at TCG Asset Management, which oversees $3 billion in assets in Mumbai.
“He successfully identified, invested and executed rapidly to create this new narrative,” Lokapriya said. “We believe this can potentially double shareholder value over the next four years.”
The newer businesses are likely to contribute 50% of Reliance’s earnings in a few years, from about 32% now, Ambani said in August. A representative for Reliance didn’t reply to an email seeking comment on Ambani’s wealth.
Ambani, 62, has vowed to slash the group’s net debt to zero by early 2021.