After having a considerable presence in almost all the sectors, now Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited is all set to build the world’s largest zoo in Gujarat—the family’s home state.
The zoo will house close to 100 different species of animals, birds, and reptiles not just native to India, but from across the world, various media reports say. The pet project of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani, will come up on the 280 acres of land close to the company’s refinery project at Moti Khavdi near Jamnagar.
This animal venture will also include a rescue center which will be operated by the support from the local government and is probably scheduled to open in 2023.
A Reliance representative declined to comment on the cost of the project or give further details.
The oil-to-data conglomerate has an empire worth $80 billion, expanded in different sectors ranging from e-commerce, tech, sports, and much more. They own the Mumbai Indian team and started a soccer league. Besides this, Nita Ambani, Mukesh Ambani’s wife is also a board member of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Also, it is not amusing that the Ambani family is investing in Zoo park as many have invested their wealth in this venture. Indonesian tycoon Low Tuck Kwong, out of his passion for animals built a zoo worth $4 million. Georgia’s richest man and former prime minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili spent a whopping amount of $3 million in a dendrological park.
Apart from Zoos and crocodile parks, these billionaires also have their eyes on the sports and museum sector. Just like Ambanis, Roman Abramovich, the biggest owner of Russia’s second-largest steelmaker, bought London’s Chelsea soccer club out of near-bankruptcy in 2003 for about $223 million. Zhang Jindong, the founder of appliance maker Suning Appliance Group Co., purchased a controlling stake in Italian soccer club Inter Milan for $306 million in 2016. Russian energy billionaire Leonid Mikhelson is building a $130 million center of contemporary art in Moscow.
Studying about why the billionaires across the globe are making investments into unusual ventures, Rebecca Gooch, director of research at Campden Wealth says, “They have the economic horsepower to turn fantasy into reality…Investing in public spaces can help both a family’s and its company’s image, in turn aiding profitability and mitigating potentially negative exposure. It can also affirm a wealth holder’s standing in society and publicly cement a family’s legacy well into the future.”
