Adani Ports And Special Economic Zone Appoints Karan Adani As The New CEO
The Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) announced on Wednesday that it has elevated chief executive officer (CEO) Karan Adani as the company”s new managing director and has re-designated his father, Gautam Adani, as the executive chairman.
“APSEZ, India”s largest ports and logistics company, has elevated CEO Mr. Karan Adani to the role of Managing Director, a position that was held by Mr. Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group,” PTI quoted a statement released by the Adani Group firm.
Karan Adani, with a degree in economics from Purdue University in the United States, started his career in 2009 at the Mundra Port before being promoted to CEO of the port in 2016. He has also held the position of director at ACC, a cement manufacturing company, since September 2022. Karan Adani has married Paridhi Shroff, daughter of Cyril Shroff, managing partner at law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and the couple has a daughter.
In other significant announcements, the company disclosed the appointment of Ashwani Gupta, former global Chief Operating Officer at Nissan Motors, as the new Chief Executive Officer and plans to raise up to $600.6 million by selling non-convertible debentures.
The company has not revealed for what purpose the fund will be used. The company has been raising funds for capital expenditure since early 2023, with $600 million raised last month for refinancing its debt. APSEZ also revealed its plan to spend seven trillion rupees over the next decade on infrastructure projects, despite net debt rising to 387 billion rupees and cash and cash equivalents standing at 72.90 billion rupees as of September 30, 2023.
The new decision has come in light of the favorable Supreme Court verdict in the Hindenburg case, wherein the bench comprising Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misraon refused to establish a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe allegations against the Adani Group.
The court also allowed the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to continue its probe as there is no ground to prove that the market regulator was ‘lackadaisical’.
