The plush confines of Adani House at Ahmedabad?s upmarket Mithakali Circle is bustling with activity following the stupendous opening of the much-awaited IPO of Adani Power, the second public issue of the group and the largest to hit the Indian market in two years. Ensconced in his tastefully done up office on the top floor of the group?s three-story corporate headquarters, 47-year old Gautam Adani, chairman of Gujarat?s fastest growing corporate, the Rs 15,000-crore Adani Group, is busy scanning a popular business channel, possibly trying to assess the impact of the big-ticket IPO on the group?s fortunes.
As far as market reactions to the IPO go, the jury is already in. It?s a huge success and will catapult the Adani group into a different corporate orbit altogether. Says Devan Choksey, chairman of the KR Choksey group, a leading brokerage in the country and also a well-known portfolio management company, ?This IPO is going to invite a lot of overseas investors to return to India and look at it favourably, particularly at the infrastructure sector. I also feel that it speaks volumes for the Adani group which has done its homework well. The staggering oversubscription is the investors? way of acknowledging the credentials of the company.?
Echoes VK Sharma of Anagram Securities, another leader in the brokerage space, ?The success speaks volumes for the kind of acceptability the Adani brand has in the market.?
But while Choksey thinks the IPO herals the ?return of good times to the recession-hit market?, Sharma has a different take on this. ?I don?t think it guarantees automatic success for IPOs that follow. Investors will judge each IPO, as they always do, based on their assessment of the promoter. The kind of investor response to the Adani group only shows that they hold the group in high regard and have great trust in its executional abilities.?
But ask the Adani chairman about life will change post the IPO and pat comes the reply, ?I never go by this market capitalisation theory and I don?t believe in the numbers game.? The dapper Adani, popularly called Gautambhai, goes on to elaborate the philosophy that spurs him on. ?It?s creation that gives me a kick,? he says.
He does, however, recount with great relish how, at a recent interaction with stockbrokers, one among them informed him that his investment of Rs 1 lakh in the Adani stock way back in 1995 has touched Rs 2.5 crore in market value. ?The numbers are incidental, a by-product and not the main objective as they don?t change my lifestyle in any way,? he states, matter-of-factly.
The only entrant from Ahmedabad into the hallowed World Billionaires Club, Adani dreamt big even as a rowdy young prankster who broke numerous bones slipping off galvanised sheets while running after kites. ?There was no parental control and this, I feel, gave me the freedom to develop in an unrestrained environment,? he recalls. ?I always had a fire inside me to do something different without anybody?s help. I was also clear that I didn?t want to enter the family business and for that I was willing to work hard.?
Evidently,, Adani?s scale of ambition is nothing short of audacious. Post the success of the Adani Power IPO, he is looking at tripling the turnover of his group in four years. With the Mundra SEZ and four of the group?s proposed power projects expected to go on stream by then, the dream may not be that far-fetched.
And it is precisely this attribute?dreaming big?that has led parts of the Gujarati media to refer to him as the next Dhirubhai Ambani. And not without reason: According to Forbes? The World?s Billionaires 2009, Gautam Adani?s net worth stands at $1.8 billion. Today, the Adani Group has a footprint in sectors ranging from ports to infrastructure to power, hydrocarbons, logistics support, real estate and edible oils.
Put in a hurdle and you?d bring the best out of Adani. Son of a small time businessman who dabbled in forward trading at a time when it was not legalised, Gautambhai grew up in Ahmedabad. It was his desire to do something out of the box that shaped the destiny of this college drop-out. After a brief flirtation with the diamond polishing industry and then brokerage and trading, the foundations of Adani Enterprises were laid in 1985. Though Adani intended to set up a plastic factory, he faced major problems as raw material was scarce.
?In a sense, this business emerged out of constraint,? he recounts. ?It struck me that there may be many in the industry who must be facing similar problems and its then that I decided to enter into the business of plastic polymer trading. Later I entered the ports sector too only because I was facing major constraints in my import-export business on account of congestion at ports.? He went on to set up the first private sector port, the Mundra Port, in Gujarat.
Adani believes it?s his lack of formal education that has helped him hone his instincts and sharpen his native intelligence. ?I feel some things are in-born, such as gut-feeling, sensing opportunities and the ability to take risks. To that extent education makes you more cautious as you get bogged down mulling various options,? he goes on to explain.
Then, you could do well to pick up a lesson or two on meticulous planning and execution from this man who swears by his instinct.