Adani Group checks into Mumbai Airport by acquiring 23.5% stake; on way to 74% ownership of MIAL – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Adani Group has formally checked into Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) by acquiring 23.5% stake in it held by two foreign firms — ACSA Global Limited (ACSA) and Bid Services Division (Mauritius) Limited (Bidvest) — for Rs 1,685.2 crore. The infra major is going to acquire 74% stake in MIAL, thereby getting the rights to develop the upcoming Navi Mumbai airport, which includes the entire 50.5% stake of outgoing promoter GVK Group.
The remaining 26% in MIAL will be with Airports Authority of India (AAI). Adani Airports Holding Ltd (AAHL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Limited, is likely to take over the reins of Mumbai Airport from the GVK Group this month, say sources.
“AAHL, the flagship holding company of Adani Group for its airports business, has acquired 23.5% equity stake — 28.2 crore equity shares of Rs 10 (each) of MIAL from ACSA and Bidvest,” Adani Enterprises said in a regulatory filing on Saturday.
The Adani Group had taken over the Mangaluru, Lucknow and Ahmedabad airports from Airports Authority (AAI) of India late last year and has to take over Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports by this July. It will develop, manage and operate these six airports for the next 50 years.
With seven functional airports (including Mumbai) and a greenfield one (at Navi Mumbai) under its belt, the Adani Group will be the biggest private airport operator in India in terms of number of airports handled.
In terms of number of passengers handled, GMR will remain the biggest player for some time as it runs India’s biggest airport — Delhi’s IGIA. This group has, among others, Hyderabad and the upcoming Mopa airport in Goa in its aviation portfolio.
Last September, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani had said: “The addition of MIAL and Navi Mumbai International Airport to our existing portfolio of 6 airports provides us a transformational platform… From a medium to long-term perspective, Mumbai is well on its way to become one of the top 5 global metropolitan centres of the 21st century. It is expected to be the nation’s leading airport as well as a core domestic and international hub as passenger traffic across our country grows 5-fold and India builds 200 additional airports to handle over 1 billion domestic and international passengers across the Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities, majority of which will connect to Mumbai. Over this period, India’s top 30 cities are expected to each require two airports and Adani Airports sees itself well-positioned to help build the infrastructure platform required.”
“As our nation progresses towards becoming the world’s third-largest economy, the Adani Group’s ability to serve this growth through a rapid build-out of airport infrastructure can be a significant enabler. We therefore see airports as a powerful engine to drive local economic development as well as act as a critical lever to help converge the tier 1 cities with the tier 2 and tier 3 cities in a hub and spoke model. This hub and spoke model is fundamental to enable a greater equalisation of our increasing urban – rural divide as well as take advantage of the cost arbitrage that exists between the different locations to make us more competitive as a nation,” Gautam Adani’s statement last September had added.