Indian billionaire challenges Adani’s winning bid for $4bn in assets, F1 track

NEW DELHI: Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal is challenging fellow tycoon Gautam Adani’s winning bid for a bankrupt real estate giant in the Supreme Court, intensifying the fight over a $4 billion pool of prized assets that includes the country’s only Formula One track.

Agarwal’s Vedanta has mounted a legal challenge over a creditor committee’s decision to award the assets of Jaiprakash Associates to Adani, a portfolio that includes homes, power, cement plants and the Buddh International Circuit track near New Delhi.

Vedanta has argued its $1.8 billion bid for the assets was better, but the committee, and an Indian tribunal, decided in Adani’s favour by saying its $1.5 billion bid was superior because it had higher upfront payments.

Vedanta is now asking India’s top court to pause the acquisition and hear its concerns, Supreme Court listing records seen by Reuters on Tuesday showed.

Vedanta and Adani did not respond to requests for comment.

A win could give a major boost to Adani’s real-estate expansion, adding to its other key projects in Mumbai, which include redeveloping one of Asia’s largest slums, Dharavi.

Trying to restart f1 in India

F1 races have been stalled in India for 13 years due to regulatory and taxation disputes, forcing organisers to discontinue the programme. Adani’s son, Karan Adani, said at a public event last month he is “very personally engaged” to bring back F1 to India.

Vedanta’s Agarwal on Sunday expressed disappointment about how the Jaiprakash Associates sale process had been handled, writing on X: “We will place the facts in the right way.”

Vedanta’s business interests stretch across aluminium, power and steel.