Forbes Asia - October 2018

India’s 100 Richest

WALDO SWIEGERS/BLOOMBERG (TOP); THE TIMES OF INDIA GROUP

ANIL AGARWAL:
GOING PRIVATE
The mining mogul is taking
his London-listed Vedanta
Resources private after 15 years
as a public company. Agarwal,
who was reportedly on a
Mediterranean cruise with his
family when he announced the
$1 billion oer in July, agreed
to pay a 27% premium for the
one third of the metals firm
he doesn’t already own. The
tycoon was quoted as saying his
decision to privatize Vedanta
had nothing to do with troubles
faced by the company’s copper
smelter in south India, where 13
protesters were killed by police
in May. The incident resulted in
closure of the smelter.

M.A. YUSUFF ALI:

FLOOD OF GOODWILL

Dubai-based retailing tycoon of the LuLu

Group inadvertently sparked a diplomatic

row after floods swept through his native

Kerala state and he lobbied the UAE

government, which oered a $100 million

donation for rehabilitation. While the chief

minister of Kerala was eager to accept the

grant and tweeted about it, the Hindu-

leaning federal government snubbed the

oer, saying it was not seeking foreign

assistance. Yusu Ali donated $2.6 million

of his own money for relief eorts.

78 | FORBES ASIA OCTOBER 2018