Wilmar Buys Billionaire Gautam Adani’s 20% Stake In Indian JV For $824 Million

Wilmar International—the Singapore-based palm oil giant cofounded by Malaysia’s richest tycoon Robert Kuok and his nephew Kuok Khoon Hong—has agreed to buy billionaire Gautam Adani’s 20% stake in their Indian joint venture company AWL Agri Business for 71.4 billion rupees ($824 million).

The Adani Group has been divesting its shares in AWL. In December, Adani Enterprises announced that it intends to completely divest its stake in the company to focus on its core infrastructure businesses in renewable energy, transport, and logistics.

The following month, Adani Commodities sold 13.5% of AWL to the public, raising public ownership in the company to 23%. With a market cap of $4 billion, AWL, which went public in India in 2022, is the largest consumer foods manufacturer in India, where it manufactures and sells edible oils as well as food staples such as rice, sugar and wheat under the Fortune brand.

Upon completion of the transaction, which is pending regulatory approvals, Wilmar will own about 64% stake in AWL once the deal is completed. Adani Group plans to sell its remaining 10.4% stake in AWL to pre-identified investors, according to an announcement released on Thursday.

AWL is one of over 10 joint ventures run by Wilmar, which counts Robert Kuok and his nephew Khoon Hong among its biggest shareholders. Robert, who has an estimated net worth of $12.5 billion, also has interests in Shangri-La hotels, data centers, real estate, shipping, and logistics. Khoon Hong, chairman of Wilmar, has a net worth of $3.4 billion, which also includes his stake in Perennial Holdings, which is building Singapore’s tallest skyscraper in partnership with ecommerce giant Alibaba.