GMR Infrastructure Ltd has agreed to buy out its Malaysian partner from a joint venture that operates the Hyderabad airport for $76 million (Rs 486.8 crore).
GMR Infrastructure will purchase the 11% stake of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad and its unit MAHB (Mauritius) Pvt. Ltd in GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, it said in a stock-exchange filing.
The infrastructure company will buy the stake through its subsidiary GMR Airports Ltd, which will now hold 74% of the airport operator. The stake held by the Airports Authority of India and the government of Telangana in GMR Hyderabad will remain unchanged at 13%, each.
GMR Hyderabad was set up in 2002 to design, finance, build, operate and maintain the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad. The company posted a profit after tax of Rs 434.79 crore on revenue from operations of Rs 1,105.40 crore for the year through March 2017. It handled 15.3 million passengers during the year.
In October 2017, the company raised $350 million (Rs 2,246.47 crore) through an overseas bond offering.
For Malaysia Airports, this is its second exit from an airport joint venture with GMR. In 2015, Malaysia Airports had sold its 10% stake in Delhi International Airport Ltd, operator of Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital, to GMR Airports for $79 million.
Incorporated in 1992, Malaysia Airports was the first Asian airport operator to get listed on stock exchanges in 1999. The company’s core business is management, operation and development of airports. It handles six international airports—five in Malaysia and one in Turkey—16 domestic airports and 18 short take-off and landing ports, according to its annual report.
GMR Infrastructure is a holding company for investments made in airports, energy, transportation and urban infrastructure. The company operates three airports—at New Delhi, Hyderabad and Mactan in the Philippines. It is also developing an airport in Goa.
Other deals in the airport sector included GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd selling a 33% stake in Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), operator of Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, to Fairfax India Holdings Ltd for Rs 2,149 crore in 2016. At the time, Fairfax India had also acquired a 5% stake in BIAL from Flughafen Zürich AG, the operator of the Zurich airport.
In 2017, GVK sold its remaining 10% stake in BIAL to Fairfax for Rs 1,290 crore ($200 million). Now, Fairfax controls the airport company.
