Adani Group is undoubtedly one of India’s most prominent and successful multinationals even as it fights the negative publicity its investment plans in Kenya continues to attract.

Most Kenyans knew very little about Adani before its interests in varied Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) with Kenya emerged including on JKIA expansion and KETRACO.

The conglomerate has banked on the financial challenges faced by many governments to invest in critical sectors including energy, ports, airports, renewable energy and logistics.

These forays have made Adani Group a key player on the international stage as far as PPPs in the financing, development and operation of mega infrastructure projects is concerned.

In Kenya, Adani inked a Sh95.8 billion PPP with Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) to develop, run and maintain key electricity transmission lines and substations.

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Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi, when announcing the deal with Adani Energy, said it will aid Kenya modernize her power infrastructure to end perennial national outages.

Adani Energy Solutions will operate KETRACO infrastructure for 30 years to assist Kenya to overcome power distribution challenges and realise key developments under Vision 2030.

To be accepted in Kenya and to prove Adani Group possesses the capability and experience to undertake reforms at JKIA and KETRACO it is relying on these key global success stories:

1. Adani Sri Lanka Port Terminal Project

In November 2023, US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC} pumped $553 million into the Port of Colombo deep-water shipping container terminal joint venture done by a consortium led by Adani Ports.

The consortium of Adani Ports, John Keells Holdings and Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) set up the Colombo West International Terminal Pvt Ltd to execute the Build-Operate-Transfer project over 35 years.

Adani Ports holds 51 per cent stake, Sri Lanka conglomerate John Keells Holdings 34 per cent and the remaining 15 per cent is held by SLPA in the project set to be finished in 2025.

2. Elbit System in Israel

On November 20, 2023, Adani Defence and Israel’s Elbit Systems inked an agreement that saw the Israeli firm buy a 44 per cent shareholding in Atharva Advanced Systems of India.

This deal is meant to enable India realise its “Make in India” defense vision with Adani Defence holding a 56 per cent stake in, Atharva which was incorporation on August 9, 2024.

Israel’s Elbit conducts research, design, development, engineering, manufacturing, assembly, sale, and maintenance of systems and products targeting the defence market.

3. $10 billion Chip Plant in India

Adani Group is at advanced stages in its plans to construct a semiconductor fabrication plant in collaboration with Israel’s Tower Semiconductor, to boost India's chipmaking capabilities.

Adani Group will mainly finance the project through its internal accruals and debt with the manufactured chips to be used in drones, cars, smartphones and other mobility solutions.

4. Haifa Port in Israel

In July 2022, a consortium led by Adani Ports (70 per cent stake) and Israel's Gadot Group (30 per cent stake) won a tender to privatize Haifa Port paying about $1.15 billion for the concession.

This comes as Israel has been selling off state-owned ports and building new private docks as it seeks to bring down costs and improve the average waiting times for unloading vessels.

The acquisition, Adani Group’s first key investment in Israel, expanded its global ports portfolio and seeks to make the port more advanced and efficient to handle bigger container ships and enhance its trade volumes.

5. Galilee Basin Coal Mine in Australia

In 2019, Australia issued Adani Group with its final approval for the construction of a coal mine to be erected at Queensland's Galilee Basin.

The approval by the state government came following years of hitches in acquiring environmental approvals from the federal administration.

6. $444 million investment from TotalEnergies

In April 2020, Total and AGEL, a renewable energy subsidiary of Adani Group, got into a joint venture in which the latter brought on board a portfolio of 2.1GW of solar power plants.

The deal saw Total and AGEL agree to expand the portfolio from 2.1 to 2.3GW through new solar farms as they seek to transition towards cleaner energy and sustainable infrastructure.

The Indian giant is banking on the above and others it touts as its success stories to back its boast that it has the capacity to handle JKIA and KETRACO upgrades against the strong opposition by naysayers, who have criticized the Adani Group and Kenya government of striking secretive, dubious and overpriced deals that do not give Kenyans value for money.