GMR Infrastructure Ltd said on Thursday it will sell more stake than earlier planned in its airports arm to Tata Group, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and stressed assets investor SSG Capital Management.
The infrastructure company will now sell a 49% stake in GMR Airports Ltd instead of 44.44% earlier, subject to regulatory approvals, it said in a stock-exchange filing.
GMR didn’t give a break-up of the stake the three investors are buying. It also didn’t specify if the deal value had changed, too.
Tata Group holding company Tata Sons Ltd, SSG Capital, GIC and GMR did not respond to email queries related to the revised transaction till this article was published.
In March last year, GMR had said that Tata Group, GIC and SSG Capital would together invest a total of Rs 8,000 crore ($1.15 billion then) in GMR Airports. Tata Group was to buy a 19.7% stake, GIC 14.8% and SSG 9.9% as per the initial plan.
Under the new deal, GMR Infrastructure will hold a 48.9% stake in the company that operates airports in Delhi and Hyderabad. An employee welfare trust will hold the remaining 2.1% stake.
In October last year, the Competition Commission of India had approved a plan that involved the three investors picking up a stake of up to 55.2% stake in GMR Airports. The approval was subject to some modifications.
The transaction marks Tata Group’s entry into India's airports sector. For GMR, the deal would help it cut debt.
