Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan and Li Ka Shing don’t seem like they might have much in common. Apart from both being on the Forbes list of the richest men in the world.
Ananda Krishnan, a Malaysian of Sri Lankan Tamil origin, graduated from the University of Melbourne, Australia and has an MBA from Harvard to boot. Li Ka Shing’s is the quintessential rags-to-riches story. A school dropout who started his career as a salesman in a plastics trading company, he is now the ninth richest man in the world with a network of USD 23 billion, according to Forbes. His nickname in Hong Kong? Superman.
And why am I doling out juicy tidbits about these guys? Well, for starters both run telecom companies - one is in the process of exiting India and the other has just made a debut.
More importantly, and unfortunately for them, both their Indian investments have been subjected to the infamous Indian government “probe”. The delay by the FIPB in clearing the sale of Li Ka Shing-controlled HTIL’s stake in HEL to Vodafone has attracted the attention of investors worldwide. And now, there are reports that the government is “probing” the investment structure of Ananda’s telecom flagship, Maxis in south Indian mobile operator Aircel.
Ananda Krishnan and Li Ka Shing are not new to Indian adventures. They have faced regulatory scrutiny before with Ananda’s satellite and FM forays through MEASAT and Li Ka Shing through his investment in his son Richard Li’s venture Star TV.
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