Gopichand P Hinduja, who acquired struggling truck-maker Ashok Leyland and quickly turned it around into one of India’s most successful automobile companies, died in London at the age of 85. The billionaire patriarch of Britain’s richest family and chairman of the globe-spanning Hinduja Group conglomerate was unwell for the past few weeks and died in a London hospital.

Born in 1940, he was the second of the four Hinduja brothers who built the group into a global conglomerate, spanning automotive, energy, banking, and infrastructure. Under his leadership, the group acquired Gulf Oil in 1984, followed by Ashok Leyland, in 1987 — the first major NRI investment in India. He was also the visionary behind the group’s forays into power and infrastructure, shaping plans to build India’s energy generation capacity.