Billionaire Gautam Adani’s elder son Karan is set to oversee the Adani Group’s cement business as the conglomerate seeks to integrate the two cement companies it acquired for $10.5 billion in May.
Besides bringing in his son, the Indian billionaire is also planning to enlist key senior executives to help grow the cement business and mentor Karan, Bloomberg has reported citing people familiar with the matter.
According to the report, the announcement of Karan’s appointment could come as soon as Friday.
Karan, 35, is currently the chief executive officer of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. He’s expected to find synergies between the group’s ports and cements businesses in order to create an integrated logistics firm, the people said.
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The Adani group is rapidly diversifying its business beyond its commodity and fossil-fuel roots into airports, media, digital services and telecommunications.
The world’s third-richest person is also making a $70 billion bet on green energy.
However, Adani’s biggest spend this year has, however, been on cement, with the billionaire creating India’s second-largest cement producer by buying Ambuja Cements Ltd. and ACC Ltd. from Switzerland’s Holcim Ltd. in May.
Under the deal, Adani Group will pay $6.4 billion in cash to acquire Switzerland-based Holcim's 63.1% stake in Ambuja Cements Ltd and 54.5% holding in ACC Ltd. The rest of the companies' shares will be bought via an open offer.
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Ambuja and ACC combined have the capacity to produce at least 70 million tonnes of cement annually.
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