The Adani Group has offered to buy out minority stakeholders Bidvest and ACSA’s stake in Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) for ₹911.25 crore and ₹675 crore, respectively, as part of the deal to take control of the Mumbai airport.

According to sources, under the proposed deal, the Adani Group will acquire 162 million shares at ₹56.25 apiece from Bidvest, aggregating to ₹911.25 crore.

Adani will also buy over 120 million shares from Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) at ₹56.25 apiece, aggregating to ₹675 crore. This means it will acquire Bidvest’s 13.5 per cent stake and ACSA 10 per cent stake in MIAL.

In 2019, Bidvest had said it was selling its stake to the Adani Group for ₹1,250 crore. Per the right of first refusal agreement, it had also offered its stake to other stakeholders of MIAL. GVK had leapt on the opportunity and offered to buy back Bidvest’s stake, but failed to arrange for the funds within the 30-day period.

In order to get more time, GVK had then moved the Delhi High Court, which directed the matter to an arbitration panel. The arbitration tribunal, in January 2020, ruled against Bidvest on the airport stake sale. Both Bidvest and ACSA said GVK wanted to buy the stake, but was neither giving them the money nor depositing it in an escrow account.

Later, hit by pandemic-led disruptions, GVK wasn’t able to go ahead with the deal. Subsequently, it got into a deal with Adani to sell its stake and exit MIAL.

Debt takeover

Adani will also take over debt of GVK Airport Developers Ltd (GVKAKL) amounting to ₹2,507. 95 crore which, on full conversion, will be 95 per cent of the paid-up capital of GVKADL.

Under the proposed terms of cooperation, Adani will acquire the debt from various lenders of GVK including a Goldman Sachs led consortium and HDFC. Subsequently, it will convert the debt into equity totalling 50.5 per cent in MIAL.

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