Behind every billionaire there is a story!

FT profiles Anil Ambani

Anil Ambani, the Indian industrialist, was on a family holiday in a game park in South Africa earlier this month when the news came. Takeover talks had collapsed between rival billionaire entrepreneur Sunil Mittal, chairman of India’s biggest mobile carrier Bharti Airtel, and MTN, the South African wireless operator. Mr Ambani promptly switched from passively viewing the big game to hunting – going after one of the biggest emerging markets telecoms groups.

Last week, his mobile phone company, Reliance Communications, engaged MTN in exclusive talks for an audacious reverse takeover that would put him at the helm of a group with 115m subscribers across Africa, the Middle East and India. In some estimates the deal could be worth $20bn (£10bn, €13bn) – the largest overseas takeover tried by an Indian company.

Mr Ambani was born in Bombay in June 1959. He earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Bombay and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He returned to India to join the family company and became co-chief executive officer in 1983, when he began to earn a reputation for financial innovation. Under their father, Mukesh was charged with project management while Anil took care of marketing and fundraising.

The eventual succession battle took seven months to resolve, when their mother brokered a deal. As part of the settlement in 2005, Anil received about 30 per cent of Reliance’s assets, principally its telecoms arm, now known as Reliance Communications, and its financial services and energy divisions.

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