Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani became the richest Asian in the world after the fortune of Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani continued to nosedive on Wednesday.
Ambani, with a net worth of USD 83.3 billion, currently occupies the ninth spot in Forbes' real-time billionaire list for 2023. Adani, who became the world's third richest person in August 2022, now occupies the fifteenth spot on Forbes' list.
This comes as shares of the Adani Group continued to fall on Wednesday following a report by US short-seller Hindenburg research accused the Ahmedabad-based conglomerate of "brazen accounting fraud, stock manipulation and money laundering"
According to Bloomberg, the Adani Group has so far witnessed the loss of USD 92 billion worth of listed units, while Gautam Adani's personal fortune has nosedived by over USD 40 billion.
Ambani overtook Adani after the former's assets grew by 0.19 per cent with an increase of wealth by USD 164 million while Gautam Adani's assets went down by 4.62 per cent as of Wednesday.
The share price of flagship firm Adani Enterprises suddenly dropped further on Wednesday afternoon, closing 28.45 per cent lower on the Mumbai stock exchange.
The trigger was news that Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse had stopped accepting Adani bonds as collateral for loans it advances to private banking clients, Bloomberg reported.
Adani Total Gas -- in which French giant TotalEnergies owns 37.4 per cent -- dropped another 10 per cent on Wednesday, forcing the Bombay Stock Exchange to suspend trade in the stock soon after the market opened.
Adani Ports dropped almost 18 per cent, while Adani Power and Adani Wilmar fell five per cent each.
The sudden sharp drop in Adani Enterprises came despite a $2.5-billion stock sale in the firm that concluded on Tuesday and was oversubscribed.
Smaller retail investors largely steered clear from the follow-on public offering, however, impeding Adani's plans to expand his shareholder base to include "the average, normal Indian mom and dad as shareholders."
Large buyers instead propped up the share sale, including fellow Indian tycoons Sajjan Jindal and Sunil Mittal, Bloomberg News reported, citing unidentified sources.
(With inputs from AFP)