GVK buys 13.5% stake in Mumbai Airport firm

Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based infrastructure firm GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd (GVK PIL) on Tuesday acquired 10.8 crore equity shares constituting 13.5% in Mumbai International Airport Ltd ( MIAL) from its Mauritius partner Bid Services Division for $231million ( Rs 1,130 crore).

This transaction, through the step down subsidiary GVK Airport Holdings, has enabled GVK to acquire controlling stake of 50.5%, up from 37%. GVK PIL had formally signed an agreement with Bid Services in March this year to acquire the stake and consolidate its holding in MIAL, making it a subsidiary of GVK Airport Holdings.

MIAL, a public-private partnership joint venture between GVK, the Mauritius firm, ASCA Global and Airports Authority of India (AAI) was awarded in 2006, the mandate to operate and modernise the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai.

With Tuesday's transaction, the Mauritius firm will have 13.5%, ACSA Global 10% and AAI the remaining 26% in MIAL.

GVK, which operates India's two key airports - the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at Mumbai and the Bengaluru International Airport at Bengaluru, is India's largest airport operator in the private sector. Together, the two airports account for passenger traffic of about 43 million this year.