A leading energy analyst says a reluctance by banks to finance the controversial Adani coal mine is no longer an insurmountable hurdle because the billionaire family behind the proposal has enough wealth to fund the project itself.
Should Indian mining magnate Gautam Adani decide to personally finance the controversial plan, it would clear one of the last remaining roadblocks to the mega-mine becoming reality.
It could also force Labor to firm up its fluctuating position on the project, rather than resting on the assumption the mine will not proceed because it does not stack up financially.
Former head of equity research at Citigroup, Tim Buckley, now a director at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, says Mr Adani was recently valued at $US15 billion on the Indian stock market – a quadrupling in his wealth in four years.
“Adani now has dramatic equity market wealth and he could easily do margin loans against those shareholdings and that would be, in my view, how he could manage to fund the project,” Mr Buckley said.
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