AAI approves Adani’s takeover of MIAL

Adani Airports has now officially become the largest shareholder of the Mumbai International Airport.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has approved the Adani Group’s share transfer proposal for Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) from GVK Airports Holding, said senior government officials.

A senior government official told BusinessLine the AAI board approved the proposal with “no objections.” The group will offer the same fee as GVK Holding, and not change the official name, ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport’.

Under the deal, Adani Group was to take over the 50.5 per cent stake of GVK Airport Holdings, the GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd arm that is a majority stakeholder in MIAL.

Adani Airports will also acquire the 23.5 per cent stake of Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) and Bid Services Division Mauritius (Bidvest). The remaining 26 per cent will stay with AAI.

Debt payment

“The Adani Group has also said it will pay the equity debt on behalf of MIAL to the tune of 95 per cent, which will effectively make them a shareholder of approximately 74 per cent,” the official said.

According to figures compiled by business intelligence company Veratech from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, GVK Airport Developers’ outstanding debt was about ₹3,739 crore as of end FY19 while MIAL had debt of ₹8,109 crore.

BusinessLine had reported in October that the Adani Group had moved a proposal to take over the majority stake of GVK in MIAL. AAI sources had said that it was studying the contours of the plan. Since the contract between GVK Holdings and AAI was a public-private partnership, AAI’s approval was mandatory.

Strategic adjacencies

In a statement back then, the Adani Group’s chief, Gautam Adani, had said: “The addition of the Mumbai International Airport and the Navi Mumbai International Airport to our existing portfolio of six airports provides us a transformational platform that will help shape and create strategic adjacencies for our other B2B businesses.”

Adani Airports, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, won the mandate to modernise and operate the airports in Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram through a process conducted by the AAI.

The Adani Group remained unavailable to comment.