Avenue Supermarts founder Radhakishan Damani becomes India’s second richest person; networth soars to $17.9 billion

Avenue Supermarts founder and DMart promoter Radhakishan Damani has become India’s second richest billionaire with a wealth of $17.9 billion, said news reports. Damani is now second only to Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, who is also the richest person in Asia, said a report in Moneycontrol. The wealth of Damani and family, the promoters of Avenue Supermarts, surged by close to $96 million as Avenue Supermarts’ shares peaked at Rs 2,559 apiece on 13 February, the report said citing Forbes Real Times Billionaires Index. [caption id=“attachment_8029911” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Radhakishan Damani. News18[/caption] Shares of Avenue Supermarts rallied nearly 31 percent so far this year and added about Rs 36,000 crore in market capitalisation, said a report in The Economic Times. The company’s shares jumped after the announcement of a share sale for institutional investors on 5 February this year and raised about Rs 4,000 crore at Rs 2,049 apiece, the report said. Early this month, the market capitalisation of Avenue Supermarts had crossed Rs 1.50 lakh crore, a jump of 290 percent since its listing about three years ago. On 11 February, Avenue Supermarts claimed to have overtaken Nestle and Bajaj Finserv to become India’s 18th most valuable company when its m-cap crossed Rs 1.50 lakh crore marking a jump of 290 percent. After the jump in the share price, Damani’s wealth soared to become India’s sixth richest person with a net worth of $11.9 billion, surpassing Gautam Adani ($10.8 billion) and Sunil Mittal ($9.6 billion), the report said. The supermarket chain had listed in March 2017 at an m-cap of Rs 39,988 crore. Avenue Supermarts said it had fixed the price for its qualified institutional placement (QIP) at Rs 2,049 per share. In July 2018, the market valuation of Avenue Supermarts had surged past the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark in intra-day trade. In March 2017, the initial public offer (IPO) of Avenue Supermarts was launched to raise Rs 1,870 crore. The price band for the IPO had been set at Rs 295-299. As of 31 December 2019, DMart had 196 stores with a retail floor space of 7 million sq. ft, across 72 cities and towns. Shares of the company ended at Rs 2,365.30 apiece, up Rs 24.80 or 1.06 percent, on Tuesday and the m-cap stood at Rs 1,53,218 crore. – With inputs from agencies