The GVK Group, which runs airports in Mumbai, Bangalore and the Indonesian city of Bali, is in talks with various people for a stake sale in its airports holding company, its group vice-chairman, GV Sanjay Reddy, said on Saturday. Reddy did not reveal either the amount the group was looking to raise or how much stake it wanted to divest, saying it would depend on the valuations received.
?We have been looking at raising some equity at our airports holding company and that is something for which we are in talks with various people,? Reddy told reporters after the inauguration of an expanded terminal building at the Bangalore airport, which, on Saturday, was renamed as the Kempegowda International Airport. Asked how much stake the group was looking to divest, Reddy said: ?It really depends on the person, how much valuation they give.?
GVK currently leads the private promoters? consortium at the Mumbai and Bangalore airports, holding 50.5% and 43% stake respectively in these airports. The expansion of the Bangalore airport terminal cost R1,500 crore of which around R350 crore was funded through equity and the remaining through debt.
The Bangalore airport will now be able to handle up to 20 million passengers annually, an increase of over 60% from its earlier capacity of 12 million. Plans are also afoot to expand the capacity further with Bangalore International Airport (BIAL), the company that runs the airport, envisaging a total passenger capacity of 40-45 million passengers by 2030.
?In five years? time, again it will become a constrained airport. That?s why, what we are doing to cope up, is to build another terminal and runway. The next expansion will be taken up immediately after the plans are submitted to our board,? said GVK Reddy, CMD of GVK Power & Infrastructure (GVKPIL) and co-chairman of BIAL.
