The GMR Group is willing to buy stakes held by minority partners in all the three airports it operates if there is any such offer, the group’s chief financial officer, Mr A. Subba Rao, said on Tuesday.
“We will certainly consider if the stakeholders come forward with an offer. If a minority partner wants to sell its stake, naturally we have the first opportunity to buy,” Mr Subba Rao said.
Mr Subba Rao referred the example of IDFC, which had 3.9 per cent stake in the New Delhi Airport and later swapped equity for GMR Infra stake.
However, none of GMR’s partners in the airports have so far offered to sell their share.
The GMR Group operates two international airports in India (New Delhi and Hyderabad) and one in Turkey (Istanbul).
Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad is the minority partner with 11 per cent and 10 per cent stakes in the Hyderabad airport and the New Delhi airport respectively. Fraport, German airports developer, holds 10 per cent stake in the New Delhi international airport.
In a recent interview to a business magazine, the GMR group chairman, Mr G.M. Rao, said that if their airport partners, such as Fraport and Malaysia Airports, want to sell their equity, they would like to buy it. — PTI