Vedanta Acquires JP Associates for ₹17,000 Crore, Beating Adani

The acquisition of Jaiprakash Associates (JAL) has been in the news for the past three months. Whenever the sale of JP Associates was discussed, Gautam Adani's name was always mentioned first. But when the final bid was announced, everyone was stunned!

It turned out that the Adani Group wasn't even in the picture, and Vedanta won the bid to acquire JP Associates. Vedanta is owned by Anil Agarwal.

How did Adani lose out on JP Associates?

JP Associates was a major player in the cement sector. The Adani Group, which had been rapidly acquiring companies like Ambuja Cement, ACC, Sanghi Industries, and Penna Cement, was fully prepared to acquire this company as well.

After the entire acquisition process seemed to be finalized, everyone was certain that Adani would be the new owner. So, you might be wondering what exactly happened that caused Adani to miss out on acquiring JP Associates.

How the bidding process unfolded

India's billionaire Gautam Adani recently received crucial approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for his proposed acquisition of Jaiprakash Associates.

All the proposals were also passed in the 19th meeting of the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of JP Associates Limited.

However, the Supreme Court recently ruled that companies must obtain CCI approval before submitting a resolution plan under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). This approval must be obtained before the Committee of Creditors (CoC) votes on the plan.

In the initial stages of the JAL sale process, several major companies were involved, including the Adani Group, Vedanta Group, Dalmia Bharat, Jindal Power, and PNC Infratech.

The minimum bid for acquiring JAL was set at ₹12,000 crore. However, in the final round, only Adani and Vedanta placed high bids. Vedanta submitted a higher bid of ₹17,000 crore
The challenge process was completed at the Committee of Creditors (CoC) meeting held on September 5, where Vedanta submitted a higher bid of ₹17,000 crore, surpassing Adani.

Adani did not participate in this higher bid. This bid raised the company's NPV (Net Present Value) to ₹12,505 crore. It is worth noting that the financial lenders have a total claim of ₹57,185 crore against JAL. Thus, J.P. Associates is now owned by Vedanta.

Anil Agarwal vs. Gautam Adani: Net Worth Comparison

In terms of net worth, Gautam Adani is ahead of Anil Agarwal. According to Forbes Real-Time Net Worth, he is the 29th richest businessman in the world.

Gautam Adani's net worth is $60.6 billion (₹5,34,303 crore). On the other hand, Anil Agarwal is the 2609th richest businessman in the world. Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal's net worth is $1.3 billion (₹11,461 crore).