World's 3rd Richest Man Gautam Adani Looks To Raise $5B As Banks Push For Deleverage

The world's third richest man is lobbying sovereign wealth funds to raise around $5 billion in equity to reduce leverage. 

What Happened: Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate has reached out to investors, including Mubadala Investment Co. and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

The report added that the group has also approached Qatar Investment Authority and pension funds, including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. It is also courting interest from funds linked to Abu Dhabi Ruler's Representative Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the sovereign wealth fund ADQ.

The talks are ongoing, and final decisions have yet to be made by the company, added the report.

The developments come after the conglomerate, in an exchange filing on Tuesday, said the Adani Enterprise board would meet on Nov. 25 to discuss raising funds.

The sources told the publication that bankers have urged the billionaire's conglomerate to raise this much equity to improve its debt ratios — after a CreditSights report in September warned that the Adani group is “deeply overleveraged.”

Adani is currently the third richest man in the world and the highest wealth gainer this year among top billionaires.

Leaving Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in the dust, billionaire Adani has gained over $51 billion this year, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.